We have asked the new council administration to revisit the appointment of the Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board because of the concerns about the nature of the board and the way board appointments were made by the short-lived Tory administration!
An interview panel led by Councillor Hall and made up of a former Borough Commander for Harrow and a Harrow council service manager, appointed the board members, closely known to Cllr Hall.
Concerns include:
An interview panel led by Councillor Hall and made up of a former Borough Commander for Harrow and a Harrow council service manager, appointed the board members, closely known to Cllr Hall.
Concerns include:
- the appointment panel did not adequately reflect the Harrow’s socio-political reality
- the appointees to the board were no strangers to Cllr Hall and included some friends like the Harrow chairman UKIP (also)
- no information about who else applied for but were not selected and why?
- not being elected, who the board members are accountable to?
- although the SNB would meet in public, it would not be the public meetings in the sense that contributions could be accepted from the public
- with no statutory powers or delegated authority, Harrow SNB is a toothless mechanism for local engagement value for money?
We believe it would be professionally sound for the new council to double check that the board appointments are fair and secure, and to ensure that the SNB is an open body, well placed to robustly serve its purpose which is to:
- ensure communities are more closely involved in problem solving and crime prevention;
- achieve greater coherence between different engagement mechanisms e.g. ward panels, Independent Advisory Groups, Neighbourhood Watch and Stop and Search Community Monitoring Groups, so as to provide greater public accountability in policing and crime reduction; and
- make more efficient use of resources to deliver value for money and target funds at issues of local concern and crime prevention
Harrow Monitoring Group 