The Harrow council claims to be a council that puts residents first, and a borough that is clean and safe, through a proposed increase to council tax by 4.99% again.
In reality, it appears that this council statement is not owned by all council members with a responsibility, resulting in less than acceptable quality of the council services in some cases.
For example, residents still struggle for prompt and satisfactory response to their queries and complaints. The council letters where received miss the contact information such as an email address or a telephone number, making officer-resident interaction almost impossible!
The quality of the environmental services is particularly worrying:
Autumn leaf collection management, especially in many Labour held wards, is bad. In some cases, the footpath became quite slippery when the leaves got wet/ sticky after the rain, risking residents safety.
Litter picking service in the parks and side streets has deteriorated to a point where even some politicians join the residents voluntary litter picking sessions!
We have seen evidence of the food bins (black cady) often being missed (these are usually collected in the dark hours of the morning).
When the missing out is reported, the automated ‘donotreply’ email informs that ‘our crews will collect your bin within 3 working days’ but they are not collected, though they are at the edge of the property, not overflowing and don’t contain anything that shouldn’t be in that bin.
The street cleansing/ repairing programme, regularly carried out previously, has declined.
Although Covid is not a key factor now, the council has seemingly failed to fully recover or is using it as an excuse not to recover from the decline in the quality of its work in many cases.
In reality, it appears that this council statement is not owned by all council members with a responsibility, resulting in less than acceptable quality of the council services in some cases.
For example, residents still struggle for prompt and satisfactory response to their queries and complaints. The council letters where received miss the contact information such as an email address or a telephone number, making officer-resident interaction almost impossible!
The quality of the environmental services is particularly worrying:
Autumn leaf collection management, especially in many Labour held wards, is bad. In some cases, the footpath became quite slippery when the leaves got wet/ sticky after the rain, risking residents safety.
Litter picking service in the parks and side streets has deteriorated to a point where even some politicians join the residents voluntary litter picking sessions!
We have seen evidence of the food bins (black cady) often being missed (these are usually collected in the dark hours of the morning).
When the missing out is reported, the automated ‘donotreply’ email informs that ‘our crews will collect your bin within 3 working days’ but they are not collected, though they are at the edge of the property, not overflowing and don’t contain anything that shouldn’t be in that bin.The street cleansing/ repairing programme, regularly carried out previously, has declined.
Although Covid is not a key factor now, the council has seemingly failed to fully recover or is using it as an excuse not to recover from the decline in the quality of its work in many cases.
Harrow Monitoring Group 
What a surprise about Harrow Council’s abysmal standards of service & time wasting empty promises & utterances full of hot air with continuing filth dumped all over !& with the potholes around , there is no need for speed humps! Stand & deliver or do the “honorable thing” & save the residents from endless suffering before disintegrating into chaos as they abandon the sinking ship at the Council offices & disappear with their feet dragging incompetence to various cubby holes around the Borough! Enough of this shix show!
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Most complaints we receive are about the council environment services, which raises a question about the ability of the senior managers and the portfolio-holder responsible for this area!
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Senior managers & portfolio holders of which departments? Chaos & mismanagement no doubt ? While not only lacking in communication skills maybe because their “email” details are conveniently hidden from the public on top of not being available on the phone? An organisation which probably thrives on chaos , incompetentence & inaction with maximum inconvenience being delivered in full measure to the residents of Harrow! Amazing!
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Environmental services leadership seems weak!
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& not to the blind visionaries with multiple occupation properties flourishing & who are incapable of clamping down & dealing ruthlessly with rogue landlords who don’t follow legal requirements for tenancies & flout Planning Permission requirements & law while they knowingly build illegal structures in the Borough! There are severe financial penalties which apply & should be imposed on the law breaking rogue landlords to send out a strong message to them!
Maybe mandatory visits to Specsavers would be advisable for many of these Harrow Council characters who seem to have bitten off more than they can chew!
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