Hillingdon background
The London Borough of Hillingdon is the third largest of the 32 London Boroughs and takes its name from the parish at its centre dating from the 11th century. Created in 1965, the Borough covers 42 square miles stretching from Hertfordshire in the north to
Heathrow
Airport in the south and forms the western boundary of the Greater London area. The total population of the Borough is 231,602. The principal towns are Uxbridge (which contains
Brunel
University), Ruislip and Hayes but there are numerous smaller communities. Although primarily a suburban area, there are large areas of the green belt.
The area is well served by transport links, bounded to the west by the M25 and divided into segments by the M4, M40, British Rail western region and the Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Central Underground lines running east to west. In the centre of the area is
Northolt
Airport and
Heathrow
Airport dominates the southern part of the Borough.
While generally prosperous, the area has pockets of substantial deprivation, particularly in the Hayes and West Drayton areas where there has been a decline in traditional light manufacturing industries. There are substantial ethnic minority communities, again particularly in the south, largely originating in the Indian sub-continent, though Heathrow guarantees the presence of people from every race and creed and increasingly more from Central and
Eastern Europe.