Only about half of the people in the UK vote.

With elections coming up to make your voice heard please register and get you friends and family to register also.

Here are some useful links:

To register online.

To register by post.

To register a proxy vote.

To vote from abroad.

Electoral Commission register link

As well as being registered to vote you will need a valid photo ID to vote.

If you do not have a type of photo ID that allows you to vote, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.

The post Are you registered to vote ? appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Several of the polluted cofferdams are only 30 metres away from the Blackford water source.

A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out.

While the haul road piles were sunk into the aquifer to around 30 metres, the piles for the Viaduct will be much deeper up to 70 metres. The fear is that dewatering can induce drawdown which can cause underground water pollution (from the landfill site) to migrate to towards the viaduct. If this happens there will be permanent damage to the Blackford water public water source.

The cofferdams would normally have been dewatered into the local environment but now they are polluted, it is more problematic. There is a new waste water pipeline planned.

To avoid permanent damage to the Blackford source, HS2 works should be paused and the cause of the water pollution identified and made public. It is illegal in the UK to deteriorate a public water source.

In 2019 Sarah Green and Niki Samuels spoke with Nick Hurd MP and Jane Palmer Conservative Councillor, about our concerns that the water pollution from Newyears Green landfill site would be spread across the valley to the Blackford source on Moorhall Road. Before HS2, the Blackford source was drawing 20 million litres a day of good quality public tap water which did not need treatment or additional purification.

As a result of these legitimate concerns, Nick Hurd received a letter from Allen Cook (Chair of HS2 Ltd), see attached.

The letter stated: “There will not be any dewatering of the chalk aquifer during piling so there is no potential to induce drawdown that would cause exiting pollution to migrate towards the viaduct”.

Jenny is a Green Party politician asking questions in the House of Lords on behalf of the people of Hillingdon, working to protect our drinking water.

It’s now time to halt the works and check whether the Colne Valley water sources can be saved.

The post HS2 water pollution – September 2022 Up-date appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

This creates a dangerous situation for anyone who walks, lives and exists around the area owned by HS2 as you can break the injunction even for unknowingly being on their land.

The scale and wide reaching nature of this injunction is unheard of. Injunctions are being used increasingly to suppress lawful protest and if HS2 get this injunction, it will set a dangerous precedent through which private companies can, in effect, pay for their own laws and to imprison their opponents.

At a time where awareness of climate and social crisis is peaking, HS2 are effectively attempting to silence any opposition against them.

Court Update:

A judge ruled at the directions hearing that landowners and local residents didn’t need to be made aware of HS2’s plans to injunct their local footpaths, roads, places of work and homes as the defence suggested.

Instead, the only requirement is that HS2 post the details on their social media, website, publicise in just two daily newspapers, and put a few notices up in libraries.

This is unacceptable as this injunction will affect a vast number of people, who will have no awareness of it, even though it will risk criminalising them.

Oppose the injunction

You can have your say and oppose HS2 by telling the Judge how you will be affected if this injunction is granted.

Are you a local resident who regularly passes through, or near HS2 land?

Are you dissatisfied with what HS2 has done to your local area?

Have you ever tried to make a complaint against HS2?

Do you care about access to our countryside and freedom to protest?

Has HS2 taken any land or property away from you?

Do you feel you should have been made aware by HS2 about their injunction proceedings?

To submit evidence against the injunction

We all have until the 16th May to submit evidence. Don’t worry if you’re not sure how to word it, you can be talked through the process.

Reach out via Email: Resist-HS2-Bluebell@protonmail.com

Or message the Facebook Page: Bluebell Woods Protection Camp

HS2 have already wreaked havoc in local communities, now they are making a sinister attempt to intimidate and silence anyone who opposes the project.

The post HS2’s Route Wide Injunction Bans Protest – Evidence deadline 16th May appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Niki is a retired horticulturalist with a love of animals, nature and the environment. She has lived in Harefield for 15 years and absolutely loves it.

Niki has been standing up for the people of Harefield since 2016 when she saw how HS2 plans would harm our way of life in every aspect; threatening our community assets, land, water, air, health, transport and wildlife.

Niki has fresh energy and knowledge to bring to the council, along with the time, skills and experience to be a stronger voice for us. A Green in the room changes everything about the way decisions are made.

Hillingdon Council needs accountability

The council is run by the Conservatives, who have a large majority. They are likley to have a bigger majority after these elections. Having some alternative voices on the council to provide constructive views and hold the council to account is really important for democracy. A one-party state never serves any area well. Where there is little opposition on councils people get worse value for money from the council-tax they pay. Electing another Conservative might not change anything on the council, but sending Niki as an indepentently-minded alternative voice will.

The post Vote Niki Samuel in Harefield appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Niki needs no introduction here. She is out regularly, all year round taking up all sorts of issues and helping to look after Harefield. She’s been the only person knocking doors to hear your views. Only her regular “Green News” has kept everyone in Harefield up to date with whats going on and what she’s been doing. Unlike other candidates who turn up at elction time every year then vanish after, only Niki has been campaigning hard for Harefield.

Niki said “I’ve decided to stand as a candidate for Harefield Village because I want to give back to the community I know so well, and I know we have been overlooked by Hillingdon council for far to long. I’ve managed to get a few things done locally of my own bat, but now I am asking for you to elect me as a councillor. Imagine how much more I could do as an elected councillor on the inside not just working and campaigning on the outside of the civic centre. Your vote in the Council election can make that happen.”

Click here to see the whole of the Harefield Village Green News where we annouce Niki as our candidate for Harefield.

The post Niki Samuel selected to be candidate in Harefield appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

See here for the video they posted on Facebook.

The post Stop HS2 Protestors at the Green Party protest for the right to protest at Westminster appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Our Green Party peers – Jenny Jones and Natalie Bennett – have been working hard to get these changes through. An amendment on soil health passed because of Natalie’s single-handed determination to change the discussion on the use of artificial fertilisers and chemicals in farming. While Jenny’s constant focus on air pollution ensured that an amendment setting a target for fine particulates (PM 2.5) was successful.

You can support Natalie’s and Jenny’s work by finding and messaging your MP using They Work For You. This newsletter sets out the amendments, what they would change and why those changes are important.

These amendments to the Environment Bill on climate change, biodiversity, plastics and sewage will only protect human health and the natural world if they are enforceable and that is why two of the amendments are especially important. The Lords want to strengthen the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), so it has independence of funding and appointments, along with the ability to take court action against the government and other public bodies when they get things wrong. These key amendments will stop the government directing the OEP’s work or hiding reports.

The government has already written several of its own amendments into the legislation in response to the concerns raised by both peers and MPs. These changes help, but still fall well short of the protections our environment needs. We are asking you to lobby your MPs to improve the Environment Bill and give Caroline Lucas MP your help in convincing the Commons to back these crucial changes.

You can see more on this here.

The post GREENS IN THE HOUSE appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Wheels For All enables people with additional needs or health conditions to enjoy cycling.

Cycling Projects has a fleet of adapted cycles to match to people’s needs. We are offering the chance to try out these cycles on August 13/14 on the running track at the Bannister Sports Centre in Harrow Weald, by kind permission of Everyone Active.

See here for more details of the event on the Harrow Cycle hub website.

The post Wheels for All event coming soon to Harrow appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Read here how they say that although Hillingdon has seen a slight improvement in the levels of travel by sustainable modes but there are only 8% 20 mph speed limits, 2% of roads have protected cycle tracks and only 9% of suitable roads are in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood.

They want to see the first steps to Hillingdon becoming less car dependant and bold action is needed to improve the picture.

The post Hillingdon ranked worst borough in London on Healthy Streets scorecard appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

The decision notice of the court case can be seen here.

We link to the released documents below:

The Guardian newspaper has documented this story here.

The Hillingdon green Party will continue to seek to uncover the truth, only then can HS2 be held to account or brought to a halt, in the public interest.

The post HS2 Lose Freedom of Information case appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.