I AM now in my 12th year as leader of Hillingdon Council, and one of the pleasing aspects of being in for so long is to see some long term projects coming towards completion – such as our superb sports and leisure facilities and our library rebuild and refurbish programme.

In Hillingdon, due to the exceptional increase in the birth rate across London, we will over the next – and following two financial years – complete our primary school expansion programme to ensure that every child of primary school age in Hillingdon has a decent school place as close as possible to where they live.

We will by 2014/15 need to have provided, either in expansion or new schools, sufficient classrooms to accommodate up to an additional 900 children, mainly in the south.

The programme will cost the council £126million, which, fortunately, through our sound financial management, we can resource, but the programme is challenging, as is the timescale.

This administration is one of action and we intend to deliver for Hayes as we would and did for Ruislip.

The biggest impact over recent years has been our work through business improvement delivery. In the year just ended, we reduced the operational cost of the council by £26m and residents’ satisfaction with services provided by the council increased.

This year we will take a further £17m from operating costs through the process.

We are not doing the things other councils are doing in service and facility reduction and massive redundancy programmes – the opposition claim last year that 400 people would be made redundant in Hillingdon was a little far off the mark. It was 51 last year and 136 this year.

In earlier years, before the government cutbacks, it averaged about 40 a year, so in effect the recession has been responsible for the loss of about 100 jobs in Hillingdon.

Our record of sound financial management has, even in these financially difficult times, allowed us to continue to protect and enhance the services that residents are telling us are important to them and, equally important, to continue to invest in our facilities and our environment.