The relocation of Hayes Post Office

I am extremely concerned at the proposal to relocate Hayes Post Office to the WHSmiths on Station Road. Below is a letter I have written to the Managing Director of the Post Office regarding this serious matter.

Dear Mr Cook

Re: The relocation of Hayes Post Office

I wrote to you on the 3rd May 2007 expressing my concerns about your proposals with regards to the Hayes Post Office, and asked for full details of these proposals. I attach the letter for ease of reference. I now discover by contacting your organisation that my response was not even logged as part of the consultation process. In addition, in your letter dated 8th May 2007 I was promised that your external relations team would contact me for a face to face meeting to discuss the specific Hayes proposals. This never happened.

First, I wish to comment on the consultation process your organisation has undertaken. There has been extremely limited public awareness of the consultation process itself. Your organisation has failed to undertake a thorough consultation and in my view has treated my constituents with utter contempt. You are seeking to drive through a proposal which will undermine a vital community service to my constituents without properly informing them of the proposal or its consequences. You have failed to advertise these proposals adequately, failed to contact the wide range of community groups in my area who will be affected, and failed to hold any public meetings at which the detail of these proposals could be examined.

This has led to not only a lack of knowledge about the proposals in my area but also total confusion about the nature of these proposals. This is a blatant disregard of the interests of my community. Indeed I feel so strongly in this matter that I will be raising it in Parliament.

The very limited timescale for your consultation is a clear indication that this exercise is a tokenistic sham and leaves myself and many members of my community to conclude that your organisation is not interested in our views.

I wish to make it abundantly clear that I am writing on behalf of all those organisations and members of my community who have made representations to me about their concerns about these proposals. This includes local councillors, Hayes local residents associations, the local pensioners association, the Hayes and Harlington Community Development Forum, local shopkeepers and businesses and numerous individuals.

The concerns expressed are as follows.

• The relocation to WHSmiths will result in a severe curtailment of Post Office services within the area.

• The Hayes Post Office is an extremely busy and successful community service which it will be impossible to relocate within the confined space of WHSmiths.

• The eventual result will be either a closure of the Post Office service within the town centre or the loss or substantial reduction in the services provided by the only bookshop and stationery retail outlet in our town centre. The loss of either the postal services or diminution of the bookshop/stationers will further contribute to the decline of Hayes town centre and undermine the regeneration initiative of the town centre currently being promoted by the Hayes and Harlington Community Development Forum working with the local Chamber of Commerce, local authority and community organisations.

I also wish to register my outright opposition to the outsourcing, indeed privatisation, of this valuable community service. We have witnessed what privatisation and outsourcing has produced in other areas. The inevitable result is a reduction in service, cuts in jobs and an attack on the wages and conditions of the workforce.

Finally let me reiterate on behalf of the community I represent our total opposition to these proposals. Indeed I have not received a single representation or met a single organisation or individual in my constituency who has expressed support for your proposals, and I would urge you now to withdraw them. At the very least I would ask that the implementation of these proposals be halted until a proper consultation has been undertaken. I would also urge that representatives of your organisation meet with me and local community organisations to discuss the proposals in detail and to examine their consequences for our area. In the coming weeks I will be convening a community conference which brings together representatives from local community and statutory organisations to discuss current issues in our community. This would be the ideal opportunity for you to send a representative to explain your proposals and to gain community feedback. This would be a real community consultation. If you fail to take up this offer it would confirm in my mind and the minds of my constituents our suspicion that your consultation is purely a public relations exercise, an absolute sham and that you have never been interested in our views from the moment these proposals were initiated.

I look forward to seeing whether your organisation will accept this offer and stand up to the test of a real consultation process. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely




John McDonnell MP
Member of Parliament for Hayes & Harlington

Breathe Easy Week 2007

On Wednesday 13th June I will be attending an event called ‘Meet the Patients’ in the Stranger's Dining Room at the House of Commons.

Members of the British Lung Foundation’s Breathe Easy support network who are living with chronic lung disease will be attending the reception to share their experiences of living with respiratory disease and accessing healthcare services in England.

The event will be an opportunity for people to hear first hand how respiratory disease affects people’s lives and to find out what would make things easier for them.

The reception will mark Breathe Easy Week 2007 (11th-18th June) which, this year, aims to ‘Blow the Whistle on Lung Disease’ by raising awareness of respiratory disease and highlighting areas where services need to be developed.

The event will also see the launch of the British Lung Foundation’s Charter which outlines the improvements that we want to see implemented universally across the UK.

Carers Week 2007

I would like to offer my support for Carers Week 2007.

I am overwhelmed by the sheer dedication and hard work undertaken by carers in my community. They have my support and admiration, but they need greater recognition and concrete support from the Government and local councils.

Local MP investigates threat to Harmondsworth Allotments

Local MP John McDonnell has been approached by the secretary of the Moor Lane Allotments Society who has advised him that when plots are becoming available on the allotment site, applicants for the plots are being advised that they are unable to rent an allotment plot because the site falls under the control of BAA.

John McDonnell MP is looking into whether it is the case that BAA owns or controls this land and whether it is now the practice to refuse people the opportunity of renting an allotment plot. John McDonnell MP said “If it is the case that people are being denied the opportunity of cultivating a plot not only is this preventing the individual from the enjoyment of gardening but it also contributes to a further erosion of Harmondsworth Village facilities and village life. This practice is clearly unacceptable.”

Stop the closure of Hayes Swimming Pool Crèche

Local MP John McDonnell is extremely concerned at the threatened closure of the crèche based in Hayes Swimming Pool. He had received personal assurance that existing services at Hayes Pool would continue until the new pool was opened, and was very surprised therefore to learn that services are being curtailed.

This closure will result in the loss of two jobs as well as the loss of the beneficial services the facility provides.

It is the only crèche that is attached to a leisure facility in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is an under 5 provision that is registered to accommodate ten children at a time and John McDonnell MP is concerned that the closure will greatly reduce the opportunities for parents and carers to use Hayes Pool.

In addition the fear is that closure at this stage will mean that crèche provision will not therefore be taken into account in the new pool and facilities planned for the Botwell Green development.

The local PCT and the council have been working together to promote healthy living in our constituency. The closure of the creche flies in the face of this local healthy lifestyle initiative as it will certainly restrict the opportunities of access for parents and carers to swimming and other activities at the pool.

Local MP John McDonnell said “If this is a serious proposal by the local authority I would be grateful if the leader of the Council could personally intervene to prevent this closure which would clearly be extremely detrimental to the health and well being of my constituents.”

MP condemns planning inspector’s decision to allow chemical storage tanks to be sited near residents' homes

Local MP John McDonnell condemned the decision this week by the Planning Inspectorate to allow the siting of chemical storage tanks at Trueform Engineering Ltd, Pasadena Trading Estate, Pasadena Close, Hayes.

Local MP John McDonnell, working with the Hayes Garden Village Local Residents Association, opposed the siting of these chemical tanks because of their location so close to residents’ homes. Hillingdon Council’s Planning Committee supported the local residents but following a Planning Enquiry held last month the Planning Inspectorate has accepted the location of the chemical tanks.

John McDonnell spoke at the Planning Enquiry to express the concerns of the local residents who live only metres away from the site of the tanks.

John McDonnell said “I believe it is a disgrace. This planning decision has gone directly against the wishes of local residents who will be living in close proximity to these tanks. Local residents are fearful about their safety and the visual intrusion of the tanks. This is another unacceptable example of the Planning Inspectorate riding roughshod over local people’s concerns.”