Month: November 2017

Pinner Panto Thursday Evening!

 

Motorists – a quick reminder, there will be traffic congestion around Pinner tomorrow evening.

  • The High Street will be closed to traffic from about 3pm to 10pm.
  • Chapel Lane will be closed at the Bridge Street end from about 3pm to 10pm.
  • Pinner memorial Park will be closed to the public from 4:30 whilst the firework display is being set up.
  • Bridge Street zebra crossing will be controlled by traffic lights between 5pm & 9pm.

Visitors

  • Why not park in Waxwell Lane Car Park and visit all of the shops that are taking part on Bridge Street before hitting the High Street.
  • 5pm: Christmas lights will be switched on by the Mayor of Harrow
  • Choirs will be performing on the High Street & Chapel Lane
  • 8:15 pm – Fireworks in the Park
  • We look forward to seeing you there.

 

 

 

Pinner Panto is Coming!

Don’t forget Pinner Panto is taking place on 30th November 2017.

Road Closures 3pm – 10pm

Pinner High Street will be closed; Chapel Lane will be closed at the junction with Bridge Street. Chapel Lane Car park will be accessible from West End Lane.

The Christmas lights sponsored by Pinner Association will be switched on at 5pm.
Various local school choirs will be performing during the course of the evening.

Visit Pinner Pantomime Evening 2017 Programme for further information

Whilst a lot of the festivities will be taking part on the High Street, don’t forget to wander up to the top of Bridge Street and into Love Lane. Speaking to the traders, I know some of the windows will be decorated and it will be quieter.

In Love Lane near “Little Ben” you will find wooden mushrooms.
On the corner of Love Lane and Bridge Street and near the 183 terminus stop; pop in those shops for face painting. Christmas wreaths will also be available on the corner of Love Lane & Bridge Street.  Further up Bridge Street, the bakers will be open.

At the top of Bridge Street, rumour has it that some of the traders have combined forces to put together a fun-filled evening.  The theme will be a Mad Hatters Tea Party and there will be beautiful singing by Rapunzel, a young person’s photo opportunity in the Queen of Hearts castle, cookie decorating, hair braiding and glitter nail art for youngsters, plus Italian style sandwiches and beverages.

The Pantomime committee are very grateful for their joint participation in 2017 because in recent years the upper part of Bridge Street has not been visited as much as the more crowded parts of Pinner. So we call upon everyone attending the evening to respond to the invite, follow the white rabbit, and attend the Mad Hatters Tea Party. You will not be disappointed!

Pinner High Street War Memorial Remembrance Sunday Service

On the morning of Sunday 12th November a crowd of many hundred people of all ages defied the cold weather and gathered at the top of Pinner High Street to participate in the annual Service of Remembrance at the War Memorial, observe the two minutes silence, and watch over forty wreaths being laid by a wide range of service and local community organisations and schools.

The Annual Remembrance Service is organised by the Pinner United Services Club, assisted by The Pinner Association.  We are particularly grateful to Alex Mote and Caroline Ennis who volunteered to undertake major roles in the administration and running of the event this year, as well as all those who participated and attended, including the Pinner Police and our local fire fighters.

Thank you Caroline and Alex.

Benches at Pinner High Street War Memorial Repaired

The two benches at the War Memorial, which were installed as a part of the Pinner High Street Civic Improvement Scheme in 1970, had, after 47 years in the wind and rain, shown signs of their age.  On each of the benches one of the wooden slats had broken, making the benches a potential health and safety hazard.

The Pinner Association High Street Committee were pro-active in drawing the attention of Harrow Council to the sorry state of the wood on the benches, and also contacted the Pinner Ward Councillors about the repairs needed.  We asked whether the benches could be made safe and sound before the Remembrance Sunday Service on the 12th November.  With the much appreciated assistance of Cllr. Steve Wright and great co-operation from the Public Realm officers at Harrow Council, the benches have now been repaired.

As you can see the benches now look as good as new, with all the wooden slats having been replaced and new fixing bolts.  The donor’s plaques from 1970 have been re-installed on the back of the benches.

Thank you to everyone who has made such an difference to the area around our War Memorial.

Statement regarding Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent

 

       

The Pinner Association

(Registered Charity 262349)

Statement regarding Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent

On the 25th October 2017 Harrow Council’s Planning Committee refused consent to Greene King Pub Partners to convert the first floor of their Grade II Listed pub at 31 High Street, Pinner (known as “The Queen’s Head”) from a residential flat into five hotel rooms. Later that evening a Facebook post by The Queen’s Head was published, critical of Harrow Council and The Pinner Association.  The Pinner Association has published this statement in order to correct some factual misunderstandings.

The reasons for Harrow Council’s refusal of the Listed Building consent are:

“The proposed works, by reason of the removal of historic doors including those dating to 1700 and 1800, the cutting through of a stair tower dating to circa the 16th/17th Century (including a historic window and timber framing), and the insertion of multiple en-suites (which would conceal historic timber framing, undermine the historic floor plan and increase risk of damp and decay to exposed historic fabric including timber framing) and insertion of front extract vents, would cause harm to the special interest of 16th Century timber framed listed public house extended/altered in the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries. There is not clear and convincing justification for the harm (including consideration of clear less harmful alternatives) or public benefits to outweigh the harm (including consideration of optimum viable use),……….”

The Pinner Association supports the applicant’s aim to provide hotel accommodation in Pinner, but agreed with a well-respected local historian who objected to one aspect of the submitted design, cutting through the wall of the 16th / 17th century stair tower, because of the irreversible adverse impact it could have on this historic building.  We also supported her suggestion for what we believe to be a feasible design modification to remove the need to cut through the ancient fabric of the building and allow the first floor to be brought into use as hotel rooms.

Harrow Council turned down the submitted plans on many more grounds than the Pinner Association’s sole objection.  It is the pub’s history and heritage that make it one of the best-loved buildings in Pinner and the Council’s view is that the proposals would cause considerable harm to the special nature of the building.

The pub was previously granted permission in 2009 to build a block of 4 guest accommodation hotel units at the rear of its car park, behind the building, but this has never been built.  The Pinner Association was supportive of that proposal.  Although that planning permission has now lapsed, it would be open to Greene King to submit it again.  Having been approved once it is likely that it would be approved a second time and if so would enable the pub to offer guest accommodation without causing irreversible damage to the historic building.

Issued by The Pinner Association

9th November 2017

Note:     We estimate that Harrow Council receives around 450 planning applications a year from Pinner (i.e. Pinner and Pinner South wards).  The Pinner Association is routinely notified of all of these and, like any member of the public, has the opportunity to submit objections and statements in support to Harrow Council.  The Association only considers applications whose impact extends beyond the building/site of the application.  We take particular interest in those falling within the designated Conservation Areas and those affecting Listed Buildings, as such features contribute significantly to Pinner’s special character.  Where the Association submits an objection, it only does so following detailed discussion and approval by its Executive Committee.  The Association only objects to around 13 applications a year on average, i.e. less than 3% of all those submitted in the Pinner and Pinner South wards.

The Association is keen to recruit new members onto its Executive Committee – please email us at [email protected] if you are interested.

 

Temporary Reprieve for Pinner Police Station

The new MOPAC – MPS Access Strategy has been published today (1st November 2017).  In this it is stated that the local community will be re-consulted on whether Pinner Police Station front counter will remain open, manned, as now, by volunteers from our community.

Of course, if the front counter does remain open the building cannot be shut and sold off – so watch this space for more news of the re-consultation and make your views known when that opportunity arises.

The Pinner Association submitted a detailed response to the MOPAC – MPS recent consultation on their new “Public Access Strategy”.  Our response was acknowledged by our Nick Hurd, MP, Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service, in his letter of 11th October 2017 to Sophie Linden, London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime:

 

The new MOPAC – MPS Access Strategy has been published today (1st November 2017) – https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/public_access_strategy_nov_2017.pdf . 

The parts of the document that particularly relate to policing in Pinner and Pinner Police Station are:

“This strategy sets out the current state of public access and where we want to get to. Our public access offer to Londoners brings together the existing telephone contact methods, which accounts for the majority of police contact, with new online ways of reporting; at least two Dedicated Ward Officers in every community, based closer to their wards and equipped to work and engage with the public on the go and at notified times and places; and one 24/7 front counter in every borough.”

“During the consultation process it became clear that local operational police decisions had been taken to operate Ruislip and Pinner police stations as volunteer-led front counters. As such, these did not appear in our original list of front counters, we were proposing to close. Our proposal will be to close these front counters due to the reasons previously provided. Although we did receive some representations about them during the consultation process, we will re-consult locally in those communities prior to making decisions about them.”

“Where front counters are closing, we expect to close them on 14 December, in line with the commitment we made in the draft strategy to implement changes quickly in order to provide certainty and maximise savings. For those where we are committing to further local engagement – Pinner and Ruislip – front counters will stay open.” 

Further information will be posted as soon as this is available.