BOTWELL GREEN SPORTS AND LESIURE CENTRE
We are celebrating as the centre won the top gong in the prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Awards (RICS). Judges for the community benefit category awarded the centre for the benefit it brings to a wide cross-section of the community and to the town as a whole.
Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure, Cllr Henry Higgins, said: "Thousands of visitors have enjoyed this state-of-the-art facility since it opened last year. The centre really does provide a unique hub for the local community and I hope lots of our residents will come along to help us celebrate."
Since the £20.3 million council funded facility opened, it has attracted more than 328,000 visitors. The centre also received £300,000 in funding from the Football Foundation and leisure operator GLL, which runs the centre, towards all weather football pitches.
Botwell Green Sports and Leisure Centre manager Sam Taylor said: "We are really looking forward to showcasing Botwell Green to the local community, and to demonstrating some of the fantastic facilities we have on offer. It will also be a great way for us to thank our customers for their support during our first year."
Hillingdon Conservatives have over the last 12 years delivered so many good community projects. The Hilingdon First card, the fantastic Sports and Leisure facilities in Uxbridge and Botwell Green and the very best library service in the whole of London with all 17 sites being rebuilt or refurbished by summer 2014.
AWARD WINNING LIBRARY SERVICE
One of the only local authorities in London to guarantee that its libraries are safe from closures has won a national award for its service.
The Bookseller Industry Awards 2011 announced Hillingdon Council's library rebuild and refurbishment programme as the winner of the Library Innovation of the Year category at a ceremony last night (Monday).
One judge described the rebuild and refurbishment programme as helping to make libraries "a better place to visit".
The Bookseller editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel Neill Denny said: "Despite operating in a fast-changing market, the winners of these awards have shown themselves to be innovative and successful during a challenging time for the industry."
Cllr Henry Higgins, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure, added: "In Hillingdon we are not closing our libraries, we're investing in them and we will continue to do so. Hillingdon understands the important role libraries play in the community and has taken radical and innovative steps to make sure they continue to stay that way while at the same time reducing running costs and increasing facilities. I am delighted that our hard work and passion for the service has been recognised by this award."
While most other local authorities in London have announced or are making cuts to the service, Hillingdon is bucking the trend both in London and across the UK by investing in a service that is well used and well loved by the residents of the borough.
Hillingdon's libraries announced record visitor numbers - more than 80,000 in some libraries - and book loans at the end of last year. The borough is now well over half way in rebuilding or refurbishing all of its libraries.
