Hayes factory site plan to create jobs

I REFER to a letter from Mr Brian Duffy (Me and my wife welcome Asda, Gazette, October 10).

Mr Duffy said, in relation to the Old Vinyl Factory site in Blyth Road, Hayes, that the site, formally the home of HMV/EMI, ‘was sold to developers for a housing complex’.

In fact the site’s owners have recently submitted a masterplan application for the site which, although it does include provision for a number of new homes, will also provide space for 4,000 new jobs in a mixture of refurbished and new office space, some of which will be let to local businesses at preferential rates.

Most importantly, the application includes a new leisure complex with a nine-screen cinema and associated restaurants, all within easy walking distance of Hayes town centre so that everyone can enjoy it, which by itself will bring 250 new jobs to Hayes.

Full details of the application can be viewed on the London Borough of Hillingdon’s website, and we are also planning to hold an exhibition on the site in November, more details of which will be announced soon.

MARTYN EVANS

Cathedral Group

By email

? Cathedral Group is one half of the joint venture Purplexed, with Development Securities, which acquired the site in May 2011.

Is there such a need for sport use?

I READ Sylvia Lloyd’s letter and am more than a little bemused (Playing fields are just as described, Gazette, October 17).

The playing fields to which she refers are for the benefit of all of us, not just those who pay money to Eastcote Hockey Club, which is a private members organisation.

Why cannot her son train on our playing fields as they are? Why does she think that a second huge, ugly fenced-off area is so necessary for training?

Living nearby, I frequently see the existing astroturf pitch unused on Sundays and at many other times. What also might become of the sport facilities at Harefield if Eastcote Hockey Club’s ambitions were to prevail?

She also appears to misunderstand the purpose of a village green. These are areas of land that are protected in order that many sports can be played on them, not just hockey.

I cannot fathom her logic that to deny the opportunity for many of our community to play varied sports might enhance her son’s ability to train.

Well done to the Gazette for reflecting the opinion of the huge majority of local residents; 4,464 signatures clearly demonstrates this.

We want our public open spaces retained for the benefit of all of us and not given over to one minority group.

King’s College Playing Fields [on Pinn Meadows, Eastcote] were endowed for the benefit of the whole community and not just members of Eastcote Hockey Club.

MIKE PHILPOTT

Broadwood Avenue

Ruislip

Use common sense on the school run

I WOULD like to draw your attention to a recent problem that is occurring on Charville Lane regarding mums and dads who drive their children to school.

Charville Lane, in Hayes, is very narrow, as everyone who uses it knows, and some of the parents are using the lane as a car park while they drop and pick up their children at Charville Primary School (in Bury Avenue).

Although Mr Shawley, the headteacher, has requested in the weekly newsletter that parents do not park in Charville Lane, they continue to do so.

Apart from causing traffic congestion on the lane, the local residents find it difficult to enter and exit their property and, more important, it is highly dangerous for everyone concerned.

Perhaps the small minority who do park on Charville Lane would consider walking their children to and from school, or using the Charville Community Hall car park, which is available and safe?

Recently we have had to lay down traffic cones to stop cars parking directly opposite residential homes, but all they are doing is parking further down the lane, causing more problems.

I am sure if we appeal to their common sense, this problem can be easily rectified.

THE LOCAL CONE MAN ON CHARVILLE LANE

Name and address supplied

Ease your pet’s fear of pops and bangs

FIREWORKS festivities are due to go off with a bang in the next few weeks.

While this signals fun for people, a recent survey by Dogs Trust revealed that 72 per cent of pet dogs are frightened of fireworks.

Ninety per cent of dog owners say they alter their routine during the November celebrations around fireworks night and during Diwali, to try to minimise the trauma on their petrified pooches.

If you’re organising a local fireworks display, please consider your neighbours’ pets.

A bit of forward planning can go a long way to make life less stressful for pets at this time of year.

For helpful advice on how to make the fireworks season less of an ordeal for your dog, visit www.dogstrust.org.uk/az/f/fireworks/.

RICHARD MOORE

Rehoming centre manager Dogs Trust Harefield

Harvil Road

Harefield

Healthy Future plan now taking shape

THE Shaping a Healthier Future consultation on proposals to improve the future of NHS healthcare in north-west London has now closed.