Local Authority

THE "SHOCKING" find of dirty needles by an environmentally minded Bedfont man has prompted a warning about litter picking.
Hounslow Borough councillor Mark Bowen has uploaded pictures of Feltham grotspots to his blog to promote the importance of reporting litter, graffiti and fly tipping.

MORE than 100 eateries in Hounslow and the surrounding area are not up to scratch.
A freedom of information request submitted by the Chronicle revealed 126 premises in the Hounslow area received the lowest ratings of either 0 or 1 when inspected in the last year.
Borough council snoops found Hounslow to be the worst town, with 38 restaurants and take-away houses deemed "not broadly compliant".

A campaign is underway to make Queen guitarist Brian May a Freeman of Hounslow.

May grew up in Walsham Road, Feltham and returned to the town last month to unveil a memorial to friend and bandmate Freddie Mercury, who also hailed from the area.

Now politicians want to recognise Brian himself by bestowing on him the highest honour the borough can give and raised the suggestion at a council meeting last week.

The memorial to Freddie Mercury in Feltham town centre remains sealed off to the public as it has not been finished and is vulnerable during the bad weather.

The 2m by 2m star, which was unveiled by former bandmate Brian May in front of more than 2,000 people last week, was not finished in time for the ceremony and the persistent bad weather has left it still incomplete.

Tradesmen working on the Hollywood-style star still have to seal it with a protective coating and hope to have it done towards the end of next week, weather permitting.

The collapse of a rail bridge in Feltham that caused travel chaos last month only came to light when when drivers noticed the track was sagging.

The bridge over the River Crane was damaged by raging torrents late on Saturday November 14, causing the closure of the line between Feltham and Waterloo for more than a week.

MP Alan Keen has defended his decision to sign a petition calling for MPs not to be punished retrospectively for their expenses claims.

Mr Keen, who represents Feltham and Heston, has signed a parliamentary motion which asks Sir Ian Kennedy, the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority(IPSA), to introduce rules which adhere to the concepts of 'reasonableness and proportionality' and not to apply rules retrospectively.

A Service of Remembrance will take place at St Mary's Church in Bedfont Green at 10.30am.

Residents whose bins are not collected should receive a refund from the council, according to one Hounslow councillor.

Hounslow Council has received £54,000 in fines from SITA - the company that runs the service - for failure to collect rubbish since it launched a new waste and recycling scheme in March.

More than 1,100 homes will see their fuel bills cut after Hounslow Homes received a £1m grant to improve insulation.

Households are expected to save up to £120 a year each once the housing association installs new cavity wall insulation in the homes across the borough with the lowest energy ratings. Hounslow Homes also estimates the project will cut CO2 emissions by 88,000kg per year.

The housing association's environmental adviser Rory Prendergast said: ''This grant will greatly assist us in targeting those properties which are the most expensive to heat and are most susceptible to fuel poverty. It will aide us in our efforts to tackle climate change at a local level, improve energy efficiency, and reduce heating costs for our residents.''

Hounslow students were shocked into thinking about road safety by a hard-hitting video of a fatal crash.

More than 2,000 pupils in Year 12 at schools throughout the borough attended the Road Safety day in Ealing earlier this month.

Aimed at 16 and 17-year-olds who have just started or will soon start to drive, the 'safe drive stay alive' film involved viewing footage from a real crash in which a teenager was killed interspersed with interviews with members of the emergency services and parents affected by serious or fatal accidents.

Community safety partnership inspector Adrian Baxter said: "This is a powerful and emotive project that sends out a very strong message to young people as they reach an age where they're allowed to drive."