Saturday 30 September 2017

Mill Hill Focus - Issue #1 - Saturday 30th September 2017

Welcome to the first edition of our Mill Hill Focus. Over the coming weeks and months, our team will be bringing a weekly round up of all the news from Mill Hill. Keep an eye on our Twitter Account and send us a message of copy us into a Tweet if there is something you thing we should know.

In our weekly online focus, we'll bring a round up of the things that have caught our eye, news of forthcoming events and other news and local information. We are also always on the lookout for great pictures of our locality. We have a couple of great ones from the amazing Burnt Oak Pictures Facebook page. We are grateful to Keith Ward for posting these.

Transport - Past and Present

The first is an early 1960's picture of Mill Hill Broadway Station looking North. The station building is now where the car park is. Sadly I don't think the Mid 1960's makeover improved it.

Mill Hill Broadway Station - Courtesy of Keith Ward
We were especially pleased to see the next one. It is a picture of the Mill Hill The Hale Goods Yard in 1962. We believe this picture was taken from Bunns Bridge, which was demolished to make way for The Flower Lane Industrial Estate in 1985. The row of Hawthorns on the right is all that remains, beyond these we have Flower Lane and Mill Hill Park. Sadly, this line now stops at Mill Hill East.
Mill Hill Goods Yard circa 1962 - Courtesy of Keith Ward
There have been hopes that parts of this line could be reopened as part of the proposed West London Orbital railway proposal, which we retweeted recently

Local News and Events
There are a few things to report.



There is a new Restaurant on The Broadway

Mill Hill Environment and Campaigns

We are keen to see better signage, proper maintenance of road signs and consideration given to the ambience of the local streets. Have a look at these and tell us what you think.




Another issue to address is litter and mess. One example is that we don't want the council to leave the bins full in Mill Hill Park

Have a great week! See you next Saturday





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Saturday 23 September 2017

Mill Hill - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

We went for a nice stroll around Mill Hill today. We took a few pictures on our phone, which demonstrate the good, the bad and the ugly in Mill Hill. Some of these we tweeted.

First up in this post, the good. There are some lovely hanging baskets. These are supplied and maintaned by volunteers from the Mill Hill Neighbourhood forum. This organisation has been formed to improve Mill Hill. They are putting together a neighbourhood plan and the intention is to give Mill Hill residents a vote on this plan. If this goes forward, the forum will be officially sanctioned to deliver the plan. They hold regular public meetings and actively seek engagement with all residents.  They have already delivered some improvements, of which the baskets are just one. The next will be the pocket park in Mill Hill Broadway.

Then we have the bad. Mill Hill Broadway is sadly suffering a spate of vandalism. This photo is one of the Council owned signs in the Broadway. We've seen windows smashed and other acts of petty, unsociable vandalism. Our view is that we really need to see the Police and Council work together to use the CCTV and other resources to catch the culprits and get the message across that anti social behaviour is not only stupid, but has consequences. On a more general note, I'd like to see a system where such low level crime results in a criminal record, but for first offences, this could be struck out if the culprits undertake community based work and volunteering.

Then we have the ugly. Bins and rubbish are an eyesore and a plague in Mill Hill Broadway. Councils really need to work with traders to ensure that we don't have to see such eyesores as we shop.

Our second tweet features the lovely flower beds in Mill Hill Broadway. These are maintained by the council and are a great example of how councils can make our High Streets better. I dearly hope such things are not sacrificed in the name of austerity cuts.

Then there is the bad. Litter. It seems that in Mill Hill you are never more than five feet from a piece of litter. This one was in the middle of Mill Hill Park. Is anyone up for a spot of litter picking? We will be looking to organise some soon.

And finally, The ugly. One of our bugbears is the unsightly signage that has proliferated in recent years on our high street Whilst we commended the council on their flowerbeds in Mill Hill, thwre can be no excuse for ugly signage like this.

On our third tweet, we have a concert by the amazing Pro Arte Choir.  It is always great to see some live music in Mill Hill and if you like choral music, you'll love the Pro Arte Choir. Such events are run by volunteers and we hope that they get good support.

Then we have the bad. A hut was recently been erected in Mill Hill Park for sports clubs usage. This has been completely vandalised and filled with rubbish. It seems that young people have taken to use it as a den to drink and take drugs in. I would urge parents to ensure that their children are not particpiating and involved in such wanton vandalism. I'd also like to see the council secure it. It is tragic that there is nowhere for teenagers in Mill Hill, so a vandalised and derelict sports store is seen as a  good place to meet. We should recognise that such things are tragic.

And then we have the ugly. A semi derelict phon box on Mill Hill Broadway. Utilities should maintain their infrastructure.  Lets face it, they make enough money out of us.

The point I am keen to stress is that in a quick walk around Mill Hill we see the good and bad side of the council and sadly the good and bad side of us residents. If we had less littering  and less vandalism, the council would have more money to spend on services.

It seems that the merits of volunteering have become politicised. As council budgets are cut ever thinner, the use of volunteers to replace council staff has become something of a hot topic. As trained council staff such as librarians have been replaced by volunteers, some have questioned whether vvolunteering is ethical in such circumstances. Our view is that such changes, where there is a massive drop in quality services should not be billed as an improvement or something to celebrate, however it may well be an economic necessity. If the council genuinely can't afford to employ trained librarians, they should spell out why.

The opening hours of Mill Hill library have been vastly reduced since it became a volunteer led project. In this day and age, councils feel obliged to put a spin on such developments, stating that such partnerships are a positive development. We feel that it would be far more honest to state that it is tragic that libraries lose qualified staff and have their hours cut. They should be encouraging residents to lobby central govenrment for more funds for such things. Its not my intention to be "party political" as I hope all parties should agree that libraries are an important part of our society.

As a society, we need to decide what we want from our public services and then make the case for funding them properly. I would have no qualms of paying a few pounds more a week to have better services, more of the good things in our high streets and less of the bad things.  When you see the price charged for a coffee or a hair do in the Broadway, it is clear that there is the cash in our community to pay a little more for a better environment. It is also clear that if we tidied up our mess, worked with the police and authorites to put a stop to vandalism, provided proper facilities for teenagers, we'd all have an even better environment to live in.

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Friday 22 September 2017

Welcome to A Better Mill Hill

University of London Observatory
Welcome to our new Website. We are launching a campaign to make Mill Hill better. Mill Hill is awash with all sorts of organisations, blogs, Churches and campaigners. We have the worlds greatest Rugby Team on our doorstep with The Saracens. We have the University of London Obsevatory. We have some amazing green belt walks. We have what we believe to be Londons finest railway line (although it could be operated much better) with Thameslink. We have the Longest viaduct on the London Underground. We have three great places to shop, The Broadway, Mill Hill East and Salcombe Gardens, all of which have some fantastic shops and chippies! We have great bus links. We have Londons leading independent studios. We have some great restaurants and take aways. We have a great Bi Annual Music Festival, bring top artists to your doorstep. We have an excellent local Amatuer Dramatics society, Art club and we even have a business hub and a Library.

Angel Pond
But up until now, we haven't had a website for the whole of Mill Hill, promoting and campaigning for a better Mill Hill? We are campaigning for a cleaner, safer, Mill Hill, where our history, environment and people are protected and respected. We belive everyone who lives and works in Mill Hill needs a voice. We believe that our green belt should be protected, the potholes in our roads fixed. We believe that there is too much unpleasant signage and clutter on our streets. We believe that our roads should be safer for cyclists. We believe that public transport should be run for the benefit of the passengers, not the fat cats making huge profits from a captive service (we don't object to profits when a service is marvellous, but when it's awful, that's a different story). We believe that Mill Hill should and could be the best place in London to live. We believe that we should be working to make it attractive, healthy and fun.

Working for the whole of Mill Hill
We will he featuring great walks, as well as highlighting things which need fixing. We want to see our local councillors, local organisations and local campaigners working for the whole of Mill Hill. We want them to be committed to preserving the unique nature, opposing bad developments but welcoming good ones. We want them to fight for cleaner air quality, better cycling and public transport provision, less pot holes, removal of graffiti and a proper strategy for addressing vandalism.

If you have an article you want to feature about Mill Hill, get in touch.
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