• May 2010 Election %s: C 37.3; LD 44.5; L 15.8; G 0; I 2.4. C 1; LD 2. Please scroll down the page for details of John Coombs and Bill Treble

• [Apr 24] Liz Jaeger writes: LAUNCHING their positive manifesto last week, Richmond's Liberal Democrats pledged to retain all libraries, extend opening hours and expand community use. By contrast the Tory manifesto does not even mention libraries.

Nonetheless Tory candidates in Heathfield, and Richmond Tory councillor Frances Bouchier, are suddenly talking about an amalgamation of Heathfield Library with Whitton Library. Where they have got this idea from is a complete mystery, unless it is something that they themselves are planning to do. But they have been putting leaflets through Heathfield doors claiming the area will be deprived of library facilities.

Spreading such alarmist misinformation is hugely irresponsible and a disservice to Heathfield residents who treasure their community library. Many local residents are very well aware what the real plan is for Heathfield Library. It is to relocate the library next to Heathfield Infant and Junior School's site on Powder Mill Lane, near to the new children's centre.

The relocation will go ahead if the Whitton Clinic planned for the present library site receives planning permission. The new library will be in a brand new building of a similar size to the existing library and will offer an improved range of services. We have recently seen another library move from an old building in Hampton Hill to new premises at a different and better location. The new Hampton Hill Library is a resounding success.

Frankly, I'm astonished that Cllr Bouchier can get her facts so wrong. If she bothered to look at Cabinet papers she would know that half a million pounds is allocated in the capital budget in 2010/11 for the reprovision of Heathfield Library in Powder Mill Lane. As for the Tory candidates, we must assume that they do not use Heathfield Library and have not visited it these past 18 months. If they had, they would have seen the letters to all library users, seen a consultative exhibition with pictures of the planned new building, and had a chance to comment on alternative internal layouts.

• WHITTON: The Forgotten Town? Far from it! Cllr Liz Jaeger writes: Richmond Council's Cabinet last night agreed two items that will smooth the way for yet more investment in the Whitton area. The decisions, one of which agreed terms for the land sale for a new health centre and the second, which announced sites for wave two of the playbuilder programme, are the latest in a very long list by this Lib Dem Council to improve facilities in Whitton. Taken together, public expenditure in Whitton since the Lib Dems took control of the Council four years ago, and planned expenditure in the immediate future, amounts to several tens of millions of pounds. This is an historic level of investment and gives the lie to the negative and ill-informed accusations from the Tories that the Lib Dems have neglected the area.

In fact Whitton is receiving some of the very highest levels of public investment in the borough. On schools and children's services, there is £22.35m earmarked for the secondary school and £6m to expand Chase Bridge. Already in place are the new pitches and pavilion for Whitton School, representing an investment of £1.1m, and the new foundation stage class at Nelson Primary, £0.5m. The new children's centre on Powder Mill Lane was provided at a cost of £1.7m. On the Whitton School site there is the new Whitton Gateway centre for autistic children, opened in late 2006 with £1.3m funding from the Council. And nearby, the new premises for the Whitton and Heathfield police safer neighbourhood teams.

Youth services have benefited from having a dedicated youth worker for the Whitton area. The £150k youth vote for a youth café in Whitton High Street will see a premises opening shortly, and the new Thursday youth nights at Whitton School have been very successful. The playbuilder scheme has seen three new facilities built in the area, in Murray Park, Heathfield Rec and Edgar Road. Last night's decision will see a fourth and fifth playground, at Chase Green and in Crane Park. Overall this is an investment of some £250k in new play areas. Additionally Crane Park is benefiting from a further £400k improvements through the London Parks Challenge. If the new Whitton Health and Social Care Centre receives planning permission, the new building will be a further £7.8m capital investment in the area. And there is £0.5m set aside to provide a new library if the centre goes ahead.

The High Street has recently been allocated funds for environmental improvements. An election pledge from the Lib Dems to reinstate the Whitton town centre manager has been honoured. Other improvements in the area include the refurbishment of the public toilets and the expansion of the recycling facilities. In 2010/11, £100k is ring-fenced for improvements to the pedestrian crossing at the station. Far from being a forgotten neighbour, Whitton and Heathfield wards are benefitting from one of the highest levels of investment in the borough.

• TWICKENHAM Academy : Looking to the Future After a lengthy and full consultation process Whitton School has finally been proposed for Academy Status with the internationally respected educational body Kunskapsskolan being named as joint sponsor. Whitton School will close in August to re-open as Twickenham Academy in September. The Government has agreed to fund new buildings to replace those currently on the site.

Kunskapsskolan, the sponsor, is Sweden's largest secondary education provider. It operates 30 secondary schools in Sweden, educating over 9,000 students from the age of 12 to 18 years old. The Kunskapsskolan model works- in Sweden, students in Kunskapsskolan schools results are above the national average.

John Coombs, local Lib Dem Councillor, said: "The additional funding and exciting, new teaching methods will ensure that Whitton school becomes a great secondary school. I understand the concerns that some residents have expressed, but as Twickenham Academy the school is about to enter a fantastic new era." Local campaigner Asad Mahmood added: "Our Primary schools are the best in the country and I want our Secondary schools to be the same standard."

• WHITTON High Street: Britannia Lane Centre. It is intended in the near future to open up the Centre for wider community use once internal works and redecoration is completed. If you are interested in using the Centre, please phone 0208 734 3415. Old Co-op: We remain hopeful that negotiations will conclude and the site soon come back into use ending the years of dereliction. In the meantime, representations have been made to the agents about the state of the building to make sure it doesn't present a risk to passers by.

• WHITTON NHS Clinic: The local NHS has revealed their plans for the Whitton Clinic site on the corner of Powder Mill Lane and Hospital Bridge Road. If the Clinic moves across the road to Heathfield Library site (the library moving to land by Heathfield Junior School in Powder Mill Lane) then this site will be redeveloped to provide flats for social housing. Both Vince Cable and Councillor John Coombs are concerned that putting these flats into a three story block may be overbearing.

• NEW Play Areas: Richmond has some of the finest parks in the country and, with a grant from the Government, two new play areas will be installed at Heathfield Rec and Hounslow Heath. The plans are for a series of grassy mounds to offer changes of level for climbing, sliding and exploring on foot on using a bike. Climbing and balancing features spanning the mounds would offer 8-13 yrs more challenging active play.

• CRANE Park: Many Whitton residents voted last year for Crane Park in the 'Help a London Park' challenge. The park achieved the highest number of votes, and consequently the £400,000 for improvements. Plans for the park were recently put up on the Council web site for people to comment on. The planned improvements include making the park more welcoming, improving access and creating links between the two sides of the river. You can still visit the Council web pages to see what is being suggested: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/parks/crane_park

• BUS 110 to Whitton Station? A concerned local resident has begun a petition to extend 110 buses to Whitton Station and High Street. Many residents on the Woodlawn estate and off the Hanworth Road had no direct link to their High Street and find it easier to go to Twickenham or Hounslow. Bus routing is the responsibility of Transport for London - TFL - (a part of the London Assembly).

They were already looking at extending this route to West Middlesex Hospital and the Council has told TFL that this small extension in the middle of the route would increase our residents' access to the hospital. " Extending the 110 route would make life much a easier for West Whitton residents. Please sign the petition so that TFL and the Mayor will listen. To sign the petition contact Anne Goff on 8894 3007," said Cllr John Coombs The petition will be handed into the London Assembly.

• COMMUNITY toilet scheme: One of the popular initiatives started by the Liberal Democrats on Richmond Council has been the Community Toilet Scheme. 90 toilets in pubs, cafés, and offices around the borough are now open to the public. The Council pays the venue £600 a year to allow unrestricted access to the toilets. This is very much cheaper, and offers many more toilets, than the traditional public toilets, which are very expensive to maintain. Just look for the Community Toilet sign outside. 4 places in Whitton and Heathfield have joined the scheme: Golden Grill; La Parisienne; Twickenham Cemetery; and Whitton Library.


• The Borough's 90 Community Toilets

• From Comments Winter 2009/10: Good news! Work is well underway on the improvements to CRANE PARK. The park was recently awarded £400,000 from the London Mayor's Priority Parks competition, beating off some notable rivals by amassing 6677 votesThe park has now received £150,000 from BIFFAward for environmental improvements. Hounslow & Richmond councils together with "Awards for All" and the Wates Foundation have funded a feasibility study that has just been completed. The full report is available at http://www.force.org.uk Phase one is possible in the near future and would cover 63 hectares (currently the park is 33 hectares). It will run from Twickenham Station to Hounslow Heath. It is envisaged that phase two would take three to five years and will depend upon private land ownerships and other obstacles. After phase two the planned park would cover 97 hectares and would be classified as a new Metropolitan Park for London. Phase three would extend the park along the River Crane to include several large park and heathland areas and create a new regional park of over 400 hectares.

• WHITTON School: An independent consultation on the future of Whitton School has shown encouraging support for the Council's proposal to turn it into an Academy. In answer to the question:- 9% were broadly supportive. Cllr Eady, the Cabinet member for Children's Services said "I am very pleased that we have had such a strong support for the proposals. There is similar deep- seated support from the staff, governors and parents, so I am confident that the school has a strong mandate for change, and a very exciting future. If the proposals are agreed by the council and the government, then the new school will open in September next year and we will then have access to about £16m for new and refurbished buildings. Concerns have been expressed by some residents about the proposed name change if an Academy is created. The name Twickenham Academy has been suggested by some current pupils as it would help to reinvigorate the school and be a 'fresh start'. It would also help to reaffirm the links between the RFU and the proposed Academy.

AIRTRACK: The Council has raised concerns about the impact of traffic at Godfrey Way and Hanworth Road if Airtrack, the direct train link between Waterloo and Heathrow airport, proceeds. Feltham Marshalling Yards, currently open ground, will become its base (storage of trains etc.) and a new road will be built from Godfrey Way as the only means of access to the site. This will add to the congestion experienced at the moment at this junction and increase the problems at the mini roundabout at the Powder Mill Lane/Hanworth Road junction. " Please let us know your views," said Cllr John Coombs

• A planning application is expected for the new clinic on the site of HEATHFIELD LIBRARY. When the NHS submits this the Council will put one in for the re-location of the library. • Money has been received from the Government to provide more equipment for play areas. Both the play area on Heathfield Rec and on the Edgar Road estate will benefit from this initiative. • Roads on the Woodlawn estate have recently been resurfaced following concerns by local residents about the state of the road surface.

• WORLD Milk Day at Heathfield Infants: In September, millions of children across the globe took part in the 10th UN World School Milk Day as a celebration of school milk and its importance for children as part of a healthy diet. Vince Cable lent his support at Heathfield Infants' milk day. Vince said: "World School Milk Day is a great way of raising awareness of subsidised and free milk in schools. Milk is invaluable to children's health".

• The Football Foundation and Richmond Council have jointly provided the funds to develop an all weather pitch with floodlights on Lincolns Field. This will be run by the Whitton Fitness Centre at Whitton School.• Heathfield Children's Centre at Heathfield School in Powder Mill Lane has added an advice service on debt run by Richmond Citizens Advice Bureau. To find out more about this and other programmes run at the Centre call 020 8734 3405.

From Comments Summer 2009: • HEATHFIELD Library: Recently the NHS held an exhibition in the Whitton Community Centre showing what their proposal for a new health centre on the land that Heathfield Library currently occupies may look like. It showed a three story building on the Hospital Bridge Road frontage with car parking behind. It is proposed that six doctor's surgeries, an improved clinic, currently situated on the opposite corner, and some social workers would be based in the new building. After analysing the comments received from the public who attended the exhibition they will apply for planning permission.

If permission is granted and the NHS will buy the land from the Council which will enable the Library to be temporary housed on a site in Heathfield Junior School in Powder Mill Lane. Another doctor's surgery has just been given planning permission in Powder Mill Lane. At the planning committee John tried to get the hearing deferred until the NHS put in their planning application but the rules of the committee would not allow this. John, Bob and Bill are concerned that 7 doctors' surgeries within a few metres of each other will cause congestion in Powder Mill Lane (see separate story) and the surrounding streets. It is unfortunate that planning rules do not allow for a sensible overview of proposals still in the pipeline when a planning application is submitted.

• FOLLOWING a number of complaints in regards to indiscriminate parking in Powder Mill Lane, we are in discussion with traffic officers to see if conditions can be improved. The main culprits have been drivers parking across private driveways when collecting children from the school. The schools have written to them in this matter. This problem will need to be addressed, especially if the library is temporarily located in the grounds of Heathfield Junior School.

• £400K CASH Boost for Crane Park: With over 6,000 votes, Crane Valley Park received the highest number of votes out of the 47 parks nominated for 10 grants in the London Mayor's park improvement programme. The park will receive £400,000 which will help fund river restoration works and the creation of a bridge to link the two boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Hounslow within the park. New paths, bins and signage will also be introduced, along with continuation of the existing "carved bench project". The grant will also contribute towards the funding of new cross-borough roles of Park Ranger and/or Park Development Officer.

Bill Treble said, "We are absolutely delighted with the result and are very excited about the improvements this fantastic cash boost will deliver for Crane Valley Park. Thank you to all the residents who voted for the park and a particularly special thank you to FORCE - Friends of the River Crane Environment - for all their hard work in making this bid a success." Richmond will be working closely with Hounslow on the project and initial discussions are already underway. If you would like to get involved in environmental activities in the park visit the FORCE website:www.force.org.uk

• RUGBY Day Parking: A number of roads bordering Heathfield (in West Twickenham and Hounslow) are being consulted about an extension of the rugby day controlled parking. This is currently free to residents as it is co-funded by the Council and RFU. If these residents opt to be included in the zone then roads in Heathfield will be the closest to the rugby ground without parking restrictions. Bob, Bill and John lobbied to have roads within Heathfield included in this consultation but given the opposition by residents to CPZs in the past Council transport engineers did not believe our area was the right one to consult.

• Academy at Whitton School: Following Government approval a feasibility study is underway at Whitton School for a new academy. A top Swedish educational trust, Kunskapskollen is the Council's preferred partner. They are conducting consultations with parents and potential parents. Is this phase is successful a new Academy will open in September 2010 at Whitton and a new school will be built on the site. " This could be great news for Whitton School. Millions of pounds could be potentially invested," said John Coombs

• AT a recent meeting with London Buses, Bob and John raised the possibility of increasing the frequency of the 481 Bus. It currently runs one an hour between Kingston and West Middlesex Hospital along Hospital Bridge Road. The bus company will not increase the frequency as they believe it will only double the loss and is therefore uneconomic.

• [From COMMENTS Winter 2008-9]: TRANSFORMATION for Heathfield Rec: Thanks to Lib Dems on the Council, £3.7 million is being spent on park improvements over the next five years, and Heathfield Recreation Ground is on the list ! Improvement work is underway, and last month saw children from Heathfield Junior school coming down to the Rec for a bulb planting session. The works will see Heathfield Recreation Ground transformed with improvements including tree, hedge and more bulb planting, bird boxes to encourage biodiversity, extra litter bins, benches and the renewal of damaged fencing. A plaque will be placed on one of the new benches to acknowledge the hard work and effort the pupils put into the revamped park. Local Heathfield Councillor John Coombs, said: "The improvement works will make a real difference to local people, in addition to providing opportunities for the junior school pupils to learn about the environment. It is encouraging to see how keen the children are to get involved. "We are fortunate to benefit from lots of open spaces in the borough, and we're rightly very proud of our parks and open spaces." Richmond Borough has more green spaces than any other London borough, and year after year receives one of the highest resident satisfaction levels anywhere in the country.

• HEATHFIELD Library : It looks increasingly likely that the local health service (PCT) will get the finance to build a new health centre on the Heathfield library site. Should the finance be available, then the PCT would have to get planning permission in the normal way. This means that the current library will need a new home. This would either be at Heathfield School in Powder Mill Lane or at a rebuilt Whitton School, if it becomes an Academy. In either case the library would have its own entrance and be run with its own staff and stock as present. Bob, Bill and John would like to know if users, or potential users, have a preference to where the library should be located if a move is necessary.

• MEALS on Wheels: The Council now offers elderly people, who need help, a Self Directed Support plan. The idea is that services are planned around the person, the person is not just fitted into Council services. As part of this it was proposed by a cross-party working group to end the home hot meals service. The savings made will be invested- careers for those that rely on the hot meals service as their "daily call in", assistance for old people with shopping & cooking and providing meals at day centres, there by ending the social isolation that some elderly residents feel. "I understand residents' concerns, but this is actually about providing a tailor made service for our users. The microwavable meals will also be a far better quality," said Cllr Coombs .

• AIRTRACK: . . is a proposal to connect Heathrow with the national rail network to the south and west of the airport. Trains would run from Waterloo to Heathrow airport via Richmond. The plan would be to re-open Hanworth Marshalling yards as a 'garage' for the new rolling stock. Godfrey Way, off the Hanworth Road, would be used as the only road access to the yards. Bob, Bill and John will campaign to ensure that, if this proposal gets the go ahead, the amount of disruption along the Hanworth Road will be kept to the minimum. BAA, Heathrow's owners, are currently carrying out a public consultation.

• AFTER years of campaigning Bryanston Avenue will be consulted on the introduction of yellow lines to operate between 11 am and noon daily. This road is one of the narrowest in the area and with heavy commuter parking, emergency vehicles are unable to access. If residents approve the change, parking may spread to surrounding streets. Residents of the area are asked to contact John, Bill or Bob if any problems result.

• DURING February there will be a couple of consultations about parking. The RFU have funded a consultation to see if some streets would like to be included in the rugby day CPZ. At present the Council funds this CPZ so residents do not have to pay for permits for parking on match days.

• RECYCLING: There have been changes to the recycling scheme. These changes have been introduced after problems with bags blowing away and increased litter after collections. "We are always looking at ways to increase levels of recycling. Richmond Council now recycle over 40% of domestic waste," said Cllr Treble.