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.

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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.

Households in Hillingdon enjoy good quality water which comes from the chalk aquifer below the Colne Valley. Construction works of HS2 are putting this water supply at risk.

Since 2018 I have been requesting the water risk assessments which should have looked at all the known hazards, quantified the risks being taken and then set out options for mitigating the risks. HS2 have systematically refused to provide the reports and also systematically I have appealed and complained against their stance.

I won my case.

On 20 April 2021 the First-tier tribunal released a Substitute Decision Notice ruling that HS2 wrongly withheld the information in January 2019. They did not deal correctly with my environmental information request in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). In addition HS2 must make available unredacted versions of 3 key water risk assessments for their work in the Colne Valley, by 21 May 2021.

The three documents are:

Options for mitigation of the effects of piling on groundwater

Groundwater Assessment for Construction Tasks – Piling at the Colne Valley Viaduct

Groundwater Assessment for Construction Tasks – Tunnel and Cross Passages

The Judgement found that HS2 actions were against Environmental Information Regulations which are intended to increase public access to environmental information, contribute to more effective participation by the public in environmental decision-making and, eventually, to a better environment. HS2 have been inhibiting this process with the potential of leading to worse environmental outcomes. You can read the full Decision Notice here.

At paragraph 23 of the Decision, the judges state that they have no reason to doubt the expertise or good faith of a water quality expert who gave evidence at the hearing.

None of the water risk assessments include the pollution from the landfill site which is already in the eastern side of the aquifer. New Years Green Landfill Site was determined Contaminated Land and designated a Special Site in 2011. In 1997 pollution problems were identified in the Newyears green bourne river and in the chalk aquifer. The Ickenham public water supply, 500 m to the south east of the landfill and out of the range of this picture to the right, was closed and remains closed but remains licensed. The NYGB river is a Significant Pollution Pathway, it runs downstream from the Landfill site, alongside the Load Test Pile Site and empties into the Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre Lake (HOAC). The LTP site (area of concern) is 400 m south west of the Landfill site.

Hillingdon Green party now call on Hillingdon Council to require HS2 to produce water risk assessments which include the major hazard of the Contaminated Land and the underground pollution plume which has already been detected at the southern end of the proposed HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct. It is necessary to include this potential risk in the water risk assessments for the piling and for the viaduct before plans can be approved.

The current situation as of April 2021, is that London Borough of Hillingdon Council have not granted (planning) consent for the Colne Valley Viaduct 74320/APP/2019/3187 and River Diversions 76182/APP/2021/399. Further details of our views on these are here. We support the Council in withholding this consent until they are satisfied that these activities will not do lasting damage in the Drinking Water Protected Areas (DWPAs) or spread pollution further into the aquifer from the Council owned site of Contamination at Newyears Green.

Please continue to support our fight to protect local drinking water by signing and sharing the petition here.

The post HS2 loses court case appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Hillingdon Green party believes that two proposed major HS2 planning applications threaten the quality of the daily drinking water to 1.3 million people. Without being sure that there would be no lasting damage to the drinking water protected areas (DWPAs) or without knowing who is liable if things go wrong, the London Borough of Hillingdon should delay any planning decision.

The application references are :

Ref: 74320/APP/2019/3187 for the earthworks for the viaduct, available here

and

Ref: 76182/APP/2021/399 for the river diversions and landscape changes for flood risk, available here

Further details for both of these can be see here.

When considering these applications London Borough of Hillingdon must be sure that the lasting legacy of HS2 in Colne Valley will not be long term pollution of the daily drinking water of 1.3 million people in and around Uxbridge. It is unsafe to pass planning consent for plans with unassessed risks of pollutant transit from Council sources of contamination in the vicinity. Contamination of the Blackford source could lead to unpotable water which may take a long time to remediate. The Council and (Authorising Authority) could be held liable.

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Cancel HS2 and reallocate all public funds to a zero carbontransport future – below is an explaination of why the Green Party voted to oppose HS2. Useful when arguing with those who express environmental concerns, but don’t understand the detail of this destructive project.

HS2 is bad value for money and very bad news for the environment. It’s also hoovering up all the funding that we desperately need for investment in high quality public transport at a local and regional level.

We must stop HS2, prevent any more destruction of ancient woodlands and reallocate the billions of pounds to projects that will reduce air pollution and Co2 emissions at a local level.

Covid has already transformed the way that millions of people use digital networking instead of long distance travelling; the government needs to catch up with how a modern economy works and see that HS2 is the white elephant that the Green Party always knew it was.

Our opposition is based on 6 main areas of concern:

1. The project is not in conformity with clear national guidance on Transport Appraisal Guidance. Guidance is clear that for any transport project the exact nature of the problem to be solved must be stated and a wide range of options examined before selecting the best performing option. This was not done.

2. HS2 is the most expensive, wasteful and destructive project in UK history and is set to destroy 108 ancient woodlands, 693 wildlife sites, 33 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 5 Internationally important wildlife sites, protected by UK law, 2000 homes and businesses and 19,500 permanent, proper jobs.

3. The project will not reduce transport’s carbon emissions. Only 5% of predicted journeys are transfers from road and air and 69% are transfers from classic rail which has a lower CO2 per passenger kilometer emission factor than HS2.

4. Rail professionals at a conference in York University in 2016 identified a number of engineering upgrades at key pinch points to increase capacity on the existing rail route. A totally new line was not needed.

5. The total cost is estimated to be over £100 billion (note 3) and at £403 million per mile is 15 times more expensive than the French TGV6. The UK very urgently needs a major upgrade to rail services as a whole including electrification of lines currently served by dirty, polluting, climate damaging diesel trains and a major upgrade to city-region public transport so that all our cities can be improved tothe standards to be found in Vienna, Frankfurt or Zurich. HS2 is a very low priority compared to projects that have proven impacts on reducing transport carbon and serve the majority of the population and all income groups and get people out of cars

The post HS2: Why Greens Oppose appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

The appeal concerned the the lawfulness of the ANPS and its environmental report, here.

Charity Plan B intends to take the judgement to the European Court of Rights on the basis that reliance upon the 2C target is a breach of the right to life. Lawyer Tim Crosland had tweeted the judgement early having being one of the parties involved and received the ruling in advance. He is being reported to the attorney general by the Supreme Court. Tim detailed his reasons for this here.

The Good Law project with Dale Vince have written to the Goverment to require it reviews the ANPS or face more legal proceedings.

Caroline Russell the Green party Transport spokesperson said: “Heathrow is already the largest single emitter of CO2 in the UK. Expansion is utterly incompatabible with tackling the climate emergency and meeting the targets set out in Paris Agreement”.

Heathrow can now proceed to submit an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to the Planning Inspectorate under the earlier laxer regime. Heathrow expansion implies 40 million tonnes of CO2 from UK aviation by 2050. Is there even the demand for an additional 700 flights per day in the era of Zoom?

The issue is really now with the UK government, since the third runway was approved in 2018 the UK Government has committed to net zero emissions by 2050 and has now pledged to “cut carbon emissions by 68% compared to 1990 levels by 2030“.

The onus is on the UK Government to rule out Heathrow expansion, it should update the ANPS to take account of its net zero commitments.

The post UK Supreme court backs Heathrow on 3rd Runway proposal – Next steps? appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Here in Hillingdon we can all see terrible destruction and disruption that needs to be reported to our local councillors.

The stand Camden Council is taking, can and should, encourage our councillor here in Hillingdon to stand up for local people and the local environment.

Read the report from local Camden newspaper Ham & High.

The post Camden Council stands up to HS2 appeared first on Hillingdon Green Party.

Blackford Water Pumping Station, in Harefield is only 25 meters from the HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct

HS2 poses three main threats to our local water supply system.

The first is the 13.5 km Chiltern tunnel that emerges near the M25 in the west of the Colne Valley. Twin tunnels are being drilled through the aquifer and risk damaging its structure. The drilling process will also require 6-10 million litres of water to be used daily to transport chalk slurry out of the tunnels, risking increased turbidity or cloudiness in the water, up-stream of the main water abstraction bore holes.

Secondly there is the 3.4 km Colne Valley Viaduct which is strangely designed to curve across five deep lakes. Over 1,000 acres of valuable waterside, aquatic and terrestrial habitats are being cleared away to make space for temporary access roads, utility diversions, work compounds and spoil dumps. The viaduct will pass only 25 meters away from one our main water pumping stations Blackford on Moorhall Road. This pumping station produces 20 million litres daily but Affinity Water Ltd has already applied for this source to be closed during HS2 construction works due to predictions of increased turbidity. Hundreds of concrete and metal piles will be driven through the bottom of the lakes and across the entire floodplain, decreasing natural water cleaning processes, increasing impenetrable and polluting surfaces, and changing the structure of the fragile water bearing rock.

Thirdly, the HS2 route is positioned to pass through an underground pollution plume at the eastern side of the Colne Valley. This pollution is coming from the New Years Green landfill site and has already been responsible for closing the Ickenham water pumping station on Breakspear Road. Two scheme elements are taking place in the area of the underground pollution plume, these are the Copthall Cutting and the deep pile driving for the start of the Colne Valley Viaduct. Both elements risk opening up new pathways for the pollution to transit further into the aquifer. If this pollution reaches the Blackford source then Blackford will need to close permanently and never again provide clean, fresh aquifer water for the public.

There is a lot of secrecy around HS2 and the future of our water supplies, with evidence of treatment plants being built and a pipeline to bring in Thames recycled water to replace aquifer water for some customers. Hillingdon Green Party is fighting for the Plans for changes to Our Water System to be released for public scrutiny.

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Thursday, 11 June 2020 from 20:00-21:00

Speakers:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1809006112575933

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reclaiming-london-for-active-travel-tickets-106746234862?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

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