The Heathfield Lib Dem team: Cllrs Bill Treble & John Coombs

YOUR local Lib Dem team: Cllr Bill Treble [8898 8543 46 Cypress Avenue, TW2 7JZ cllr.wtreble@richmond.gov.uk] · · · • · · · Cllr John Coombs [8255 4133 159 Percy Road, TW2 6JE cllr.jcoombs@richmond.gov.uk]

2011 News

• [From Comments Winter 2011]: Tory Library Site Sale Shocker: UNDER questioning from your local Lib Dem Cllrs Bill Treble and John Coombs, the Tory Deputy Leader of the Council admitted that the money from the sale of the library land at Hospital Bridge and Percy Roads would be put in a fund for re-organising the rest of the Borough's libraries. When Bill and John first agreed to a new NHS clinic on this site it was on the condition that the library would be re- located to the side of Heathfield Junior School in Powder Mill Lane and over £400,000 was put aside for this.

One of the first things the Tories did when they took back control of the Council was to cancel these plans. One of the un-answered questions is why the Tories didn't cancel the sale and keep the library as Tory Alan Butler promised before the election. At a full Council meeting earlier last year the Liberal Democrats put an amendment to the Council budget to put in an extra £400,000 for the provision of a public library at Heathfield Junior School. Alan Butler and all the Tories voted against it.

One of the reasons the NHS have cited for the new Clinic, to be called the Whitton Clinic we understand, was to act as a more local centre for services offered by Teddington Hospital. Your local Lib Dem Cllr John Coombs was surprised to learn that this was no longer the case. When John pressed to find out what will be provided at the new clinic he was told that apart from the two doctors' and dentist surgeries and some local health social workers which will go ahead no further decision has been made. Local Lib Dems John Coombs and Bill Treble hope that the library has not been lost for no real gain for the local area.

• Delivering for our schools: John recently attended the ground breaking event at Twickenham Academy for the new secondary school being built at Percy Road. This is part of the previous Liberal Democrat Council's secondary school improvement plan and Bill and John are pleased to see the improving grades that pupils at the Academy are getting at GCSEs. At Primary School level Heathfield Infants, Heathfield Juniors and Bishop Perrin C of E Primary schools have all been rated good by Ofsted.

• School expansion needed: SCHOOLS in our area will soon be oversubscribed as more families with young children move into the area. An extra year class for one year has already been introduced at Heathfield Infants. Should this extra need continue then there will be a strong case to permanently increase the size of one of our primary schools by one class. Both Nelson and Heathfield have the space on which it can be done. Interestingly when the building work for the one extra class took place at Heathfield Schools the Council gave them some extra money (the schools had not asked for it) to remodel their school library!

• Top of the Class: OUR borough's primary schools have topped the national Key Stage 2 league tables for the tenth year running. Congratulations to all the pupils, teachers, parents and governors across the borough. What a fantastic achievement!

• Achievements In Government: LOCAL Lib Dem MP Vince Cable has ensured that our local schools are benefiting from £1,238,000 in Pupil Premium this year. Your Local Lib Dem Cllr, John Coombs, says "This extra funding is helping to tackle inequality and enables schools to provide extra support for pupils to reach their full potential."

• Welcome to LIDL: THE long-awaited opening of the Lidl store on the 17th November, three years after they first expressed an interest in the site, is great news. "It should help bring more people into the High Street" said Lib Dem Cllr John Coombs.

• THE River Crane and the Duke of Northumberland's River have been devastated by a release of raw sewage as a result of problems Thames Water encountered in the Heathrow area at the end of October. Thousands of fish have been killed and the rivers will take a long time to recover. Thames Water must work with FORCE and other local groups to ensure that the ecology of our local rivers is restored in time. Your local Lib Dem team will also be pressing Thames Water to review the circumstances surrounding the incident and to do all they can to prevent a repetition.

• Keeping Bobbies on the beat: WHITTON and Heathfield's hard working police team were turfed out of their local base earlier last year. At present they are temporarily located in central Twickenham. Your local Lib Dem Cllrs John Coombs and Bill Treble have been working hard to find an alternative local home for our hard working Safer Neighbourhood Police Team. Several alternative venues have been inspected, questions put to the Metropolitan Police and a meeting in Whitton arranged with the Met Police's director of property. The council has been persuaded to help in the search. Thanks to budget cuts the Whitton and Heathfield team has already lost a sergeant; as long as they remain based in central Twickenham they will remain over-stretched. John Coombs and Bill Treble will continue to seek a solution that allows our local police to do an even better job of keeping Heathfield safe.

• Campaigning for 20 mph: YOUR local Lib Dem Cllr John Coombs says "We have a definite need for 20 mph zones in a number of roads in the area." The Government has just made it easier and cheaper for Councils to introduce 20 mph zones. This means that in residential areas, especially where road speeds are already below 24 mph because of traffic calming, narrow roads or heavy parking, roads can be designated 20 mph zones simply with signage at the beginning and end of the road and 20 mph roundels painted on the road surface.

The good news is that the current Conservative administration on Richmond Council supports the changes, but the bad news is that they will not even consider taking action unless more than 51 % of the households in a road formally agree to a 20 mph limit. While consultation is vital, response rates from householders are notoriously low, so a threshold of 51 % may never be achieved. If you want a 20 mph limit in your road, contact your local Lib Dem Cllrs, John and Bill, will help you campaign for one. our Lib Dems Cllrs will help to give you a fighting chance at getting this speed calming measure where you live.

• Dangerous Driving: A NUMBER of residents have contacted local Lib Dem Cllrs John Coombs and Bill Treble about reckless driving in the Woodlawn Estate. Some drivers are speeding and others are driving the wrong way down the one way systems. Council officers have been in touch with our local police who will be looking out for the problem and enforcing the law when necessary. Local Lib Dems Bill and John have been asked if more speed tables could be put into the estate but officers have said there is no money in the budgets for this type of work. One local resident reminded us that there used to be a 20 mph zone on the estate. Get in touch if you feel a 20 mph zone is wanted.

• Fighting for Fairer Fares: YOUR Local Lib Dem Cllr John Coombs and Lib Dem South West London Assembly candidate Munira Wilson campaigned against Boris' fare hikes earlier this month. They are calling for early-bird fares, reinstatement of the outer London travel card and a 1 hour bus ticket to make travel more affordable for local residents. Local Whitton resident Munira said:

"Many local residents have been complaining about the latest fare rises, adding to the soaring cost of living in the capital. In the face of a New Year 7 % fare hike by the Mayor of London - well above inflation - Liberal Democrats are offering a series of targeted measures which will help local residents, particularly those on low pay. Early bird fares would encourage commuters to travel outside the normal rush hour, alleviating overcrowding and saving passengers money, whilst a one hour bus ticket would enable passengers to hop on and off buses for a flat rate over the course of an hour. Richmond borough residents were also hit hard by the Mayor who withdrew the zone 2-6 travel card without notice or consultation. Why should those not travelling into Zone 1 have to pay Zone 1 fares? Commuters are fed up with the phoney war over fares between Boris and Ken - Lib Dem plans would make a real difference to the lives of local residents, making travel more affordable.

• Lib Dem Success: hospital bus back: WHEN the local hospital bus was re-routed along Hospital Bridge Road your local Lib Dem Cllr Bill Treble, and now former Cllr Bob King, campaigned for the residents of Hanworth Road and the surrounding area that no longer had a direct bus to West Middlesex Hospital. Those residents who continued to use public transport had to take 2 buses with a change at Hounslow. After some years of persistently talking to Transport for London (TfL) the 110 bus will now continue its journey from Hounslow to West Middlesex Hospital which becomes the buses' final stop and start point. This started on November 19 and as an added bonus there will be earlier and later buses. Unfortunately TfL are still resisting the wishes of over 2,000 local residents who want this bus to be re-routed to include Whitton station and its High Street. Local Lib Dem Campaigner Munira Wilson, and your local Lib Dem Cllrs John Coombs and Bill Treble are campaigning for this re-route. Lots of petition signatures have already been collected. Watch this space!

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• [From Comments Spring 2011] SAVE OUR LIBRARY: Conservative Council announces Heathfield library closure: The Council will close our library on March 17 . This is despite Cllrs Bill Treble and John Coombs ensuring that over £400,000 was set aside to relocate the library to Heathfield Junior School when the library land was sold to the NHS. The Conservatives have cancelled this re-location on the flimsy excuse that our new library would be in a 'temporary' building.

A new Library years away: After two public meetings, residents have shamed the Council into promising to provide a new library either in a rebuilt Heathfield School (years away!) or when Twickenham Academy (the old Whitton School) starts to rebuild on its site. In the meantime residents will have to travel to Whitton Library, at a cost of up to £8 in fares.

Savings not reinvested locally: The Conservatives are refusing to reinvest the £400,000 in Heathfield. Instead the money will go into making parking in controlled parking zones cheaper for owners of large cars. There are no controlled parking zones in Heathfield.

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• CONSERVATIVE Mayor Boris Johnson has cancelled a crossing planned for the A316. Following a rape in the underpass crossing between Jubilee Avenue and Meadway some years ago we have been urging Transport for London (TfL) to provide a safe surface crossing. Finally, in the summer of last year, TfL agreed funding for an upgraded crossing and we met with Council officers, TfL, the local police and Vince Cable MP to discuss siting. Mayor Boris Johnson has now vetoed the funding. "This is hugely disappointing news. We are urging local Conservative councillors to use their influence with the Mayor to reinstate funding," said John.

• GET on board the 110 Bus Campaign: The campaign for the diversion of the 110 bus has taken on more importance now the Council is forcing Heathfield library users to travel to Whitton. Transport for London (TfL) turned down previous proposals to divert the 110 as they felt it would add too much time to the bus journey. To overcome TfL's objections, the Lib Dem team and local resident, Ann Goff are campaigning for a new proposed re-routing that would involve the bus turning right at the Admiral Nelson into Whitton Road and then following the route of the 281. "Ann's non-political campaign to make Whitton High Street accessible for local residents has really taken off. Let's get behind her," said Bill. Please let us know what you think of this idea.

• YOUR local Lib Dem team are working to stop Mayor Boris Johnson from ordering a bridge to be built across the River Crane close to the Shot Tower in Crane Park linking the Hounslow and Whitton banks.

Local councillors have met with Council officials and provided evidence of residents' opposition to this part of the park improvement plan. The Council is now opposing Boris's bridge. We await his decision...

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• Page 2: Comments and news from 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 & 2006
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Cllr John Coombs Tel: 8255 4133 E-mail: cllr.jcoombs@richmond.gov.uk

Roles: Planning Committee; Co-ordination, Finance and Performance Commission; John Coombs has lived in the borough since 1974 and in Percy Road since 1998. He was a Borough Councillor between 1992-1994 and 1996-1998 and was chair of the Economic Development Committee. John is a governor of Heathfield Junior School, , and of Whitton School He served on the Richmond upon Thames Arts Council executive from 1992-2001, was its chair from 1999-2001;currently Vice-President. He is a member of Whitton Police liaison committee, Heathfield working together group and represents Heathfield on the RFU consultative group.

Cllr Bill Treble Tel: 8898 8543 E-mail: cllr.wtreble@richmond.gov.uk

Roles: Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee; Regulatory Committee.

I am married with four children and nine grandchildren and live in Whitton. I have lived in the borough since 1980. I worked for United Biscuits for 27 years, who I joined as a Senior Computer Programmer. My final 10 years with the company was as Computer Services Manager for the KP Foods Group, a subsidiary of United Biscuits, based in Twickenham. I have always been interested in public service. I ran an Army Cadet Force unit for 6 years after National Service and I was in the Territorial Army, which became the T&AVR, for 11 years, reaching the rank of Captain and Battery Commander.

My main interest is education and I was a governor of Waldegrave School for Girls from 1985 until 2009 and I was on the Parents' Association for 4 years before that. I was Chair of Governors for seven years. I am a governor, past chairman, of Heathfield Nursery and Infant school. I am a past chairman of Richmond College. I was Mayor in 2006/2007 and I was Cabinet Member for Voluntary Organisations and Leisure in 1991/2.

. . working for you, all the year round!

May 2010 results: John Coombs LD 2338 Yes; Bill Treble LD 2088 Yes; Alan Butler C 1795 Yes; Phillip Taylor C 1792; Asad Mahmood LD 1763; Saba Shaukat C 1606; Mark Walker L 757; Adam Gladstone L 756; Elizabeth Mackenzie L 692; John Donnelly BNP 336.

Election, May 2006: Electorate 6599 Seats 3 Ballot Papers 3417 % Poll 51.8. Robert King LD 1900 Elected; John Coombs LD 1875 Elected; William Treble LD 1745 Elected. Hilary Dance C 870 Gillian Garrow C 783; Dawn Hayles C 776; Christopher Forster BNP 557; Niki Tanto L 229; Jacqueline Morgan L 218; Simon Holmes Independent 218; Elizabeth Mackenzie L 212.

2002: Robert King LD 1,161; John Coombs LD 1,116; William Treble LD 1,057; Terence Pearce C 1,022; Gillian Garrow C 1,017; Charles Suren C 966; John Reekie Lab 309; Geoffrey Freitag Lab 306; Julia Sutherland Lab 281.

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