The Pinner Association
– The Voice of our Community
Update from Harrow Council – 11 April 2017
Thank you to all parents and carers for filling in the travel survey to help us assess travel needs. Tomorrow (12 April 2017), a letter about the transport assistance options will be sent out to parents and carers along with a Bookings and Claims Form that will need to be filled in and returned to us.
Because the Nursery, breakfast & after-school clubs from Pinner Wood School have temporarily relocated to the Pinner Hall Community Hall, existing activities have been suspended until such time as the hall is returned to the community.
The only exception to this is the Monday Bingo Session – this will take place at Pinner Cricket Club between 3pm & 5pm.
The following activities are suspended
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
The problem was getting a venue to host these activities close to the existing hall as many people attending don’t drive.
Harrow Council have set up a section on their website with all the information pertaining to PWS.
Everything you need to know about the temporary closure
What Local Residents May be interested in!
Updates on what is happening on the site – The next site progress report will hopefully be posted on Wednesday 12th April.
Pupil Travel Survey
Parents/carers please complete this as soon as possible
Harrow Council is looking for people to help supervise coaches.
This is not just for parents and carers.
If you would be willing to give up your time, morning and afternoon, and you would be willing to undergo induction, you could join us as a “Coach Transfer Passenger Assistant”. The role would be contracted and paid. If you are interested, or know someone who might be view the Pinner Wood coach transfer assistant letter and Pinner Wood coach transfer passenger assistant form.
Induction courses will be held on initially on 13th April with a follow-up date of 20th April for those that can’t make it.
The Pinner Association Open Meeting / AGM is your chance to come and find out what is happening now in Pinner and to give your views and get your questions answered on any topic of interest or concern to those who live or work in Pinner. The Open Meeting is free to attend and you do not have to be a member of The Pinner Association to do so – but if you are concerned about the quality of life in Pinner and are not already a member why not join today – Membership
Dr Amol Kelshiker, Chair of the Harrow CCG, is to give a short talk to inform us about the NHS “STP” initiative, which will provide medical treatment in locations closer to a patient’s home, rather than use the resources of a large hospital for routine matters, in order to use NHS resources more efficiently and to improve the patient’s experience of care.
Open Forum will be your opportunity to have your voice heard and to ask questions about anything that is concerning you about life in Pinner.
We look forward to welcoming you to our meeting on the 26th April – see you there!
Pinner Association support this petition. Please help current and future pupils by signing.
“Friends of Pinner Wood School” petition to have the school housed on one site from September 2017.
If you would like to sign it please click on the link below
I have had confirmation from Harrow Council that the KS1 pupils will not be temporarily relocating to St Jerome’s School but instead reception, year 1 and year 2 will move in to buildings on the Civic Centre site that were previously occupied by Marlborough School.
Part of the issue was to do with safety issues surrounding the drop off point at St Jerome School.
A meeting is being held tonight at the Harrow Arts Centre for parents who received email notification yesterday afternoon.
Looking for something interesting and worthwhile to do?
Heath Robinson Museum needs volunteers!
The Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner Memorial Park opened last October, and many local people have said what an asset it is to Pinner. Although the Heritage Lottery Fund supported the building of the Museum, it relies on volunteers to operate.
Would you like to do something really important for this wonderful local cultural centre? Why not volunteer?
The Museum needs Front of House volunteers to welcome visitors, and many other people behind the scenes doing a variety of jobs. Do you have skills you’d like to use? We need a Fundraising Manager, a Front of House Coordinator, a Group Visits Coordinator and more.
Find the opportunities on Volunteer here
Notes written by R. Boff, The Pinner Association.
These notes are not approved minutes of this meeting and should not be used a true record for any purpose.
Harrow Council have held a public meeting, primarily for residents’ local to Pinner Wood School, to inform them why the school had had to be closed so suddenly on the 23rd March, what was to be done over the next few months, and what may be the long-term outcome for the school site. 700 letters inviting residents to attend the meeting at West Lodge School had been distributed to the residents local to the school site, and a further 4,000 letters had informed residents of the school closure.
After a void appeared in the school’s staff car park in the summer of 2015, Harrow Council employed specialist geotechnical and structural engineers to undertake a thorough survey of the ground beneath the school site near to the location of the void. These 360 degree rotary three dimensional laser surveys, undertaken by drilling many small boreholes, revealed that over 20 metres beneath part of the school building there are tunnels from old chalk mines. The laser surveys were unable to find the total lengths of these tunnels, as they were longer than the range of the equipment. Additionally, the laser surveys revealed that these tunnels were beginning to degrade.
The professional advice to the Council was that the roofs of the tunnels may continue to collapse, causing instability in the ground above, which may, in the worst case, cause more voids to appear, some of which may be under the school buildings. As this could put the pupils and staff of the school at risk the decision to close the school immediately was made by senior Council Officers and Councillors. Having the site clear of children and staff would also mean that the necessary additional surveys to establish the extent of the old mines could be undertaken more quickly.
The closure of the school was announced on March 23rd. For the last week of the Spring Term to Y6 Pinner Wood School classes were accommodated at Whitefriars School. After the Easter school holiday the KS2 classes will be accommodated at Whitefriars School, KS1 classes will be accommodated at the St Jerome C of E School, both of these being in the Wealdstone area. The Pinner Wood School pupils would remain in their existing class groups and be taught by the Pinner Wood School staff, to keep the integrity of the school intact. Coach travel to and from school was to be organised for all the pupils, but as yet safe and convenient pick up and drop off venues had not been identified. The Pinner Wood Nursery would relocate to the Pinner Hill Community Hall, Pinner Hill Road, near to the school site. Over the Easter holidays the school staff and Council would remove equipment and furniture from the school.
The experts present at the meeting could not give an estimate of how long the school may need to be shut, as that would depend on what the further survey work revealed. The best case would be for the old mine tunnels to be limited in extent and suitable for stabilisation by filling in with concrete, in which case the school could reopen relatively quickly, possibly within 6 to 12 months. However, if the ground could not be stabilised the current school building may need to be demolished and a new school built on a different part of the current site, if possible, or even on a different site in the Pinner area. This would mean a long term relocation of the school would be necessary while such construction took place.
Local residents were able to question the Chief Executive of Harrow Council, Michael Lockwood, and the professional experts present on matter of concern:
Q: Would the vacant school site be secured?
A: This was being arranged, with a commercial security firm already employed to ensure the security of the site.
Q: Would financial assistance be available from central Government?
A: Harrow Council were applying for special funds from various Government departments, and were taking advice from other Local Authorities which had had similar problems. Harrow Council had money in place for the current surveys, but any remedial works may be very expensive.
Q: What was to happen to the groups that usually used the Pinner Hill Community Hall while this was taken over by the Pinner Wood School Nursery? A weekly Bingo Club, a Toddlers’ group and a Youth Group all regularly used the Community Hall.
A: Other venues would be sought for these community groups.
(Since the meeting Pinner Cricket Club have kindly offered their premises for the weekly Pinner Hill Community Tenants’ & Residents’ Association (PHT&RA) Bingo which is held every Wednesday afternoon. Debbie Steers, Chair of the Pinner Hill Community Tenants’ & Residents’ Association (PHT&RA), said:
“This is wonderful news! And our thanks go to the Pinner Cricket Club. We are currently working with Harrow Council to find a temporary home for the PHT&RA Toddlers’ Club and Youth Club, including the equipment. We have been offered Marsh Road Community Hall but unfortunately this is not big enough to accommodate the clubs and their equipment.”
If anyone knows of a large hall in the area that PHT&RA could use for these clubs and store their equipment, please email the Pinner Association on [email protected] )
Q: Residents were aware that there are old mines in the area, but has the Council any information about the location of all these mines?
A: The council has maps of the known mines in the area, but there may be other unknown mines yet to be discovered; the “unknown unknown” nature of the information was one of the problems being faced on the school site.
Q: Do the tunnels found so far extend off the school site? Might they run under private property?
A: Until further survey work was done it was not known the extent of the tunnels that have been found, but there was no evidence as yet that they did extend further than the school site. If the tunnels ran under the adjacent public highway it would again be the responsibility of the Council to ensure the stability of the road, but the Council were not responsible for any privately owned land. However, they would inform any residents whose property may be affected.
Q: Could the Council create a portal on the Council website as a central point for all information about the Pinner Wood School site and could this be kept updated with all new information discovered as a result of the on-going surveys?
A: Michael Lockwood thought it would be a very good idea to put all the information in one place accessible for the residents and this would be done as soon as possible.
Q: Would the findings at the school site affect planning policy in the area?
A: At present there would be no change in planning policy in the area, and all planning applications would be decided using the usual criteria.
Q: Are there any more chalk mines in the area?
A: This is not known. The Council were consulting Ken Kirkman, the author of a definitive book on the chalk mines of Pinner (present at the meeting), and use his expert knowledge.
Q: What would happen to the site if it could not be used for a school building in future?
A: Technically the site can be made safe, but it may not be suitable for school building. The Council would ensure that the site was put into a safe condition.
Q: How extensive could the found tunnel be; could they connect with the known mine entrance in Norman Crescent?
A: Unlikely, as generally this type of tunnel was a maximum of 100 metres long. The mines were often “family mines” and were small scale; this may be why there is no record of these tunnels on the deeds of the land of the school site, nor were any “abandonment plans” registered for these workings.
Q: Are the tunnels flooded?
A: This is unlikely, as generally these mines were dug above the water table. Any water in the tunnels would be seasonable runoff.
Q: The houses in Latimer Gardens are some 80 years old, and the school was built in 1939. There have been very few instances of settlement in the houses in the area and should it be assumed that the ground is basically stable?
A: Agreed.
Q: When would more information be available for the residents?
A: In three or four months the surveys should have revealed more information on the extent of the mines. Residents should wait for that information before considering taking any action with respect to their own properties.
Harrow Council have kindly provided us with the presentation slides from the Residents Meeting held on 28th March
Daniel Lester Head of Communications at Harrow Council stated the following in an email
We are focusing at the moment on getting everything right for the Summer Term temporary arrangements for children, parents and the school – we should be able to focus more clearly on communicating with residents from next week.
In view of Pinner Wood School’s unexpected closure, the Heath Robinson Museum is offering a free art class in the Activity Studio to Pinner Wood children in Years 4 or 5 – must be aged 8 or over. Spaces are limited; book soon!
To book your free places click on the link below