Supplementary A - London Borough of Hillingdon

• The need for a residential home for young people leaving foster care was established
resulting in the refurbishment and re-occupation of 62 Bedwell Gardens in December
2005/January 2006.
Environment and Consumer Protection
• Green Spaces – Environment and Consumer Protection are responsible for the
management of the Council’s parks and open spaces portfolio. Hillingdon has the second
largest area of publicly accessible open space in Greater London. This includes 165 parks
and open spaces, 101 playgrounds, over 800 acres of woodlands, a National Nature
Reserve, 37 allotments, 13 bowling greens and a range of sports facilities. Resource issues
are being addressed by a Parks Improvement Programme. The programme is being
implemented over a five year period and includes the following improvements:
- Refurbishment of playgrounds in parks;
- Refurbishment of sports pavilions;
- Repairs and improvements to fencing and boundaries;
- Repairs to footpaths;
- Improvements to entrances including signage;
- Refurbishment of hard court areas;
- Installation of additional benches, and dog bins
• A prioritised annual programme has been approved. A Green Spaces Strategy has been
through consultation and has been formally agreed by Cabinet and investment in Parks and
Open Spaces has been prioritised in line with the views of customers. The Capital
Programme includes an annual allocation of £250,000 for the duration of the Best Value
Review to implement these improvement schemes. In addition, Environmental Improvement
projects are also being addressed via the Chrysalis programme, through which a further
£900,000 is being made available during 2007/08
• Allotment Strategy - Service improvements are currently being promoted through
partnership working between the Council’s Green Spaces Team and the Hillingdon
Allotments and Horticultural Federation. A joint allotment strategy has been agreed by the
Cabinet and the condition of each allotment site has been assessed and an investment
programme drawn up which aims to bring all sites up to an agreed standard to encourage
greater utilisation. The allotment strategy allows for the rationalisation of allotment sites,
which has already allowed some land to be released for disposal.
• Other changes being considered to generate revenue savings are a move to selfmanagement
of all allotment sites, leasing of bowls greens and a review of management
arrangements. Options for the disposal of redundant public conveniences sites will also be
considered as part of the asset review.
• Car Parks Review - Car Parks – During 2006/07 a comprehensive Car Parks condition and
usage survey was undertaken, the results of which were reported to PASG. The conclusion
of the condition and usage survey was that full or partial disposal options should be further
investigated at 10 car parks. These further investigations are now underway and the results
of each specific review will be reported to PASG during 2007/08.
• Additionally, during 2006/07 a structural survey was undertaken of the council’s public multistorey
car parks in Uxbridge. The survey concluded that both car parks are in relatively
good structural condition considering that they were built approximately 35 years ago.
Although not in pristine condition, the defects and shortcomings are relatively minor.
However, the survey did show that some relatively minor repair works need to be undertaken
and that a preventative maintenance programme is needed to ensure the car parks
remained ‘fit for purpose’. Options for funding these repairs works and maintenance
programme are currently being investigated.
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